A Pleasant Sort of Hell
by Baron Zed
Summary: Kuno banishes Ranma to his own "personal hell" using the Wishing Sword. He appears on Sphinx in a hexapuma den. After about a year spent in the Cat Fist with a treecat clan, he is adopted by Claire Harrington until tragedy inspires him to enter the Royal Manticoran Navy. After much time passes, parts of his old life find him again.
1. Chapter 1: A Personal Hell

Ranma and his friends were created by Rumiko Takahashi. Honor Harrington and her friends were created by David Weber. This is fan fiction created for fun.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The motivation for this story changed several times over the course of writing. At first I wanted Ranma in a science fiction setting, but the insertion points I liked put Ranma joining the RMN at the end of the current Honorverse timeline and I didn't feel up to plowing completely new ground plot-wise, so this shifted to a how does a mature Ranma deal with characters from Ranma 1/2 that have only changed a little. Eventually I will be introducing Akane and Nodoka into the fic. When this happens 27 years will have passed for Ranma, but only a year and a half for them. I'll have a series of vingettes to indicate time passing. Unlike when I started posting The Missing Bijuu, I'm not done with this yet, but I'm probably closer to the end than the beginning. This one will end up being longer than TMB, but still won't be epic in length.

Italics indicate a foreign language: English in the first chapter and Japanese after that.

* * *

Ranma approached Kuno Tatewaki in her cursed form as he posed in front of Furinkan High School with the Wishing Sword held high. She had paid Nabiki a nominal fee to have him meet her here. She had seen Kuno waste two of the Sword's three wishes on trivial things. She wanted the Sword in order to remove her curse.

"Kuno, won't you let me have the Sword? I want to free myself from the awful enchantment on me!" She batted her eyelashes and gestured cutely.

"Fear not, my Pig-tailed Goddess!" Kuno blustered, shifting his pose. "I, Kuno Tatewaki, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School, the Rising Star of the Kendo World shall free thee and the Fierce Tigress Tendo Akane from the Foul Sorcerer Saotome Ranma!" He thrust forward the Sword. "Wishing Sword, I abjure thee to free my Loves by banishing Saotome Ranma to his personal hell, to not come forth for thousands of years!"

The Wishing Sword began to glow as he finished his words. The glow sprang towards Ranma and engulfed her. She shut her eyes in defense.

When she opened them again she dropped a short distance onto the back of a large, black animal. She looked around and saw three others of the same animal. They had tails and six legs! They all turned towards her and she saw cat-like faces snarling at her. She jumped backwards and quickly ran up against a cliff face. The four panther-like animals crouched on their front four legs ready to spring at her. The panic rose in the back of her mind and all conscious thought fled.

* * *

Rational thought came and went erratically for the-girl-who-thought-she-was-a-cat. She knew it had been many days since she had faced and killed the six-legged panthers. A little while after finishing them off, a small housecat-sized, six-legged tawny-colored animal had approached her. It had been followed by several slightly larger animals of the same kind which had chittered nervously. The animals had been vaguely cat-like in appearance, but much less so than the panthers. The resemblance had not been enough to set off her defense mechanism and they seemed friendly. The smallest one in front had approached her and stared into her eyes. She had felt a connection to the animal and had followed it back to its nest.

The others calmed down quite a bit once they had left the panther nest. At her new friend's nest in a large tree, others of the creatures had awaited and appeared to scold them. Her friend had borne the scolding patiently. The tree and the others near it had nests for the creatures. Her friend's nest in the tree had a small opening. She could have squeezed into it, but had preferred curling up outside it.

Normally after sleeping in a comfortable, safe spot her rational side woke up, but being out in the wilderness with animals had kept her feral, cat-like persona in charge.

Gradually her rational episode stayed longer. She still did not know her name, but she began to realize that she was not where she was supposed to be. She began to miss the kind, but sometimes angry girl and the tall, nice girl. She even missed the fat man who taught her to fight-just a little. She remember that she didn't normally have red hair and was not normally this short. She knew it was the fat man's fault, but could not remember how to fix it. She remembered how to walk on two legs and how to dance. She knew that she used the dances to fight when she was a girl, but just doing the dances brought her peace.

She noticed that she had started to be able to feel when her friend was happy or sad through an aura that she could sense even with her eyes closed. Eventually she even started to pick up thoughts from her friend. It was not words like she had spoken when she was a girl-the thoughts had more nuances to them. She also began to be able to sense the other animals' auras, but picking up thoughts from them was much harder. She learned that her friend called herself "Sings Brightly." Her friend's name for her was "Wind Dancer." Both names were more complex, but that was how she thought of them to herself. Sings Brightly helped her to find more of herself, but was limited because she was one of the "People" and not a "Two Legs."

Eventually the weather started to get cooler. The-girl-who-knew-she-was-not-a-cat-but-could-not-remember-how-to-be-a-girl-again thought that the season had lasted longer than was normal. Sings Brightly asked Wind Dancer to follow her away from the nest of the People to meet with other Two Legs. Sings Brightly told Wind Dancer that she knew of some Two Legs that could help her remember herself better than the People could.

She followed Sings Brightly through the forest for two days until they came to a building. Her six-legged friend asked her to stay while she pushed a button not far off the ground. A short time later a young woman came to the door. The woman spoke to Sings Brightly, but Wind Dancer did not understand her. Sings Brightly made gestures with her True Hands.

The woman turned to Wind Dancer and spoke to her, but she did not understand, so she shrugged her shoulders. The woman spoke to Sings Brightly again and then went inside before returning after a short time. She gestured for them to enter a vehicle and Sings Brightly sent encouragement. Wind Dancer sat in a seat and Sings Brightly hopped into a special seat that the woman had attached to the normal seat next to Wind Dancer. The woman went to the front seat and started the vehicle which surprised Wind Dancer by lifting into the air. After a moderate amount of time the vehicle landed at a building inside a city. The woman gestured for them to follow her into the building.

Inside the building were a man and a woman. After more talking and gestures, Wind Dancer and Sings Brightly followed the new woman into a back room with a bath. The woman started the bath and started to remove Wind Dancer's tattered, dirty clothing. When the bath was full, she gestured for Wind Dancer to enter it.

Wind Dancer stepped into the warm water of the tub and felt an almost forgotten tingle and Ranma remembered as she became a he. This time he remember a lot of what had happened during the long Cat Fist episode, although the beginning of it was hazy.

The woman screamed and Sings Brightly bleaked. Ranma covered his head and bent over in the tub. He recognized the language she was speaking as English, but the accent was odd. His English was limited to start with so he only understood every third word. The other man and woman ran in.

"It's a magic curse! I'm not a pervert!" Ranma said in Japanese. He couldn't remember how to say that in English, so he said instead, " _Magic. Cold water girl. Warm water boy. My English bad. Speak Japanese? Where am I_?" He knew his accent was bad, but he hoped they understood.

The woman stopped screaming and the three talked, but he couldn't understand much. Ranma could feel Sings Brightly laughing at him. Finally the women left and the man said, " _Bath now. Talk later. Clothes here. You understand?_ "

Ranma nodded and said, " _Yes. You bring two water for talk. One warm. One cold. Okay?_ "

The man nodded and said, " _Okay_."

The man left, but returned with another pile of clothes.

Ranma washed and then dressed in the larger clothes that came with the male under garments and exited the bathroom with Sings Brightly following him.

The man was waiting for them and guided them to a room with a table. On the table were two glasses of water.

The man said slowly, " _My name is Carl Jackson_."

The woman he had met at the first place said, " _My name is Jan Hudson._ "

The woman he had scared in the bathroom said, " _My name is Hannah Garcia._ "

Ranma remember that Westerners used their family name second. " _My name is Ranma Saotome._ "

Hannah asked him something where he only recognized " _how_ ," " _boy_ ," and " _girl_."

He felt the plastic cups and picked up the cold one. " _Magic. Cold water girl._ " He poured it on his head and changed. " _Warm water boy._ " He poured it and changed back. " _Really boy. No warm water with them._ " He gestured to Sings Brightly.

The three had stunned looks on there faces. Carl said a bunch of words where he only understood " _how_ " and " _magic_."

Ranma shook his head and said, " _Magic water. China. No words tell you. Speak Japanese?_ "

Carl spoke again and he understood " _language_ " and " _Japanese_."

Ranma said, " _Yes._ "

All three of them looked confused. If Ranma were to guess they did not know what Japanese was.

" _I from Tokyo, Japan. Where am I?_ " he said. He figured foreigners would not know about Nerima.

They looked confused. And Jan shook her head and said something about " _know_ " _planet_ " and " _Japan_."

Ranma asked, " _Planet Earth?_ "

Carl returned, " _Old Earth? Solarian League?_ "

Ranma said, " _Earth yes. Tokyo city. Japan country. Solarian League not know._ "

Carl said, " _Planet Sphinx. Star_ _Kingdom Manticore. Old Earth far away._ "


	2. Chapter 2: Settling In and Tragedy

**Author's Note:** One of the reviews for the previous chapter was wary that I might engage in "bashing." I don't intend to engage in what I would consider bashing. The worst it will get is Ranma disparaging Genma's efforts as a parent after having experienced real parental care.

* * *

Carl took Ranma and Sings Brightly to live with a European-looking woman named Claire Harrington. She was nice and seemed amused by the curse. She looked to be about 30, but Ranma later learned that she was closer to 100 and looked younger due to something called "prolong" which she had Ranma receive the treatments for. Claire was able to find a computer program that could translate spoken Japanese and things became a little easier.

Ranma found out that it was 1914 Post Diaspora which corresponded to 4017 Common Era. Claire managed to order late 20th Century CE vital records from the Mormons and found his birth and death certificates (the date on the death certificate corresponded to the Wishing Sword incident as far as he could determine), but it was too far back to find out anything else other than that his mother's name had been Nodoka and that she had still been alive when he disappeared. Claire told him that after two thousand years he was probably related to all the human race equally and that trying to find a "close relative" was meaningless.

He learned that even after treecats (Sings Brighty's species) began to communicate through sign language with humans it was tradition that their human partner give them a human-derived name and to keep their treecat names private. He decided to name Sings Brightly Amaterasu and called her Ama-chan. He learned that it was rare for female treecats to adopt humans. When he asked Ama-chan about it she told him that she had felt him from her nest and her curiosity and concern drew her to him. He did not know if it was the magic of his arrival, the act of sinking into the Cat Fist, or his large ki reserve that did it, but he was grateful. Although he could communicate telepathically to Ama-chan, she recommended that he conceal it, as well as the fact that he could read auras to see people's emotion. Communicating with other treecats was harder anyway, so he learned Treecat Sign Language.

Ranma discovered that although Sphinx and Manticore (the planet where the country's capital was-the Star Kingdom of Manticore had three main planets plus two others that were accessible via wormhole!) had their own calendars most people used the one based on an Earth year (called T-years) for ages and any time longer than a day other than for seasons. By the time he had spent three T-months with Claire he was fluent in English. By the time he was there for a full T-year (about a fifth of a Sphinxian year), he had all but eliminated his accent and obtained a High School diploma online. Because he did not know exactly when he appeared on Sphinx he did not know his exact age, but he figured he was around 18 T-years old when he got the diploma due to about a T-year with the treecats and one with Claire.

This is when Claire asked if he wanted her to adopt him. He thought about it for a week and then officially became Ranma Harrington. He did not feel a huge amount of loyalty to his father and he did not remember his mother. Even though he was no longer a minor, he appreciated being able to have a real family that actually treated him well. Claire had two sisters, a brother, and a nephew that had survived her oldest brother, but had never married or had kids. In many ways she was like an older sister since she had not raised him, but she bullied him into calling her "Mom." Her siblings and nephew all had children which all accepted him. The change between his father who he had taken to referring to as his "sperm donor" when he thought of him at all and his new family was remarkable.

Due to his harsh upbringing, his arrival in this time, the Cat Fist, and the curse, Claire had Ranma see a psychiatrist. He resisted at first, but he relented when he saw that Claire actually cared. He was shocked at how much it actually helped. He was mostly past the Cat Fist after his first T-year with her. He still did not like the beasts though and could not see how people connected them with treecats.

Not long after his adoption he enrolled in the local Yawata Crossing university and got a degree in Sphinxian biology. After finishing his degree in 4 T-years he got a job with the Sphinxian Forestry Service as a ranger. He got a paramedics license and took to volunteering for search and rescue assignments.

One of the biggest changes to his life was that he became close to Claire's nephew Devon's daughter Sarah. They started out as friends and slowly became more. She treated him much better than any of the fiancées back in Nerima did.

After spending most of a T-year in the wilderness as a girl and due to the Harrington Clan's support, the curse mostly stopped bothering him, although he preferred to be a man when he was around Sarah. He did figure out that if he spent at least half his time as a girl, the "water magnet" part of the curse subsided and his martial artist reflexes allowed him to avoid it. There was also a "warm water magnet" effect if he stayed a girl for too long, but the time before it happened was much longer-over a week as a girl-and it did not seem to matter how long he was a boy before it went away.

He kept up his martial arts because he enjoyed it, but he no longer felt driven to devote his whole life to it. He practiced it about an hour a day-much less than he had when he had lived with his sperm donor-and got in spars when he could. Yawata Crossing was big enough to have a few dojos. There was no one that could challenge him like in Nerima, but he still enjoyed himself. He took to doing most of his spars as a girl because the looks she got when she beat them as a petite young woman amused her. Her favorite sparring partner was Claire's brother Alfred's daughter Honor. She did not visit Sphinx often because of her responsibilities in the Navy and on Grayson-an allied planet of which she became a noble-but Honor was a very smart fighter and was decently skilled in coup de vitesse, her preferred fighting style. Even though Ranma was much more skilled, Honor usually kept her on her toes. Ranma found Honor very likeable and down to earth, even though she was a duchess in the Star Kingdom and a steadholder on Grayson and an admiral in both navies.

* * *

It had been seven years since Ranma had been fostered to Claire. He still lived with her because they both liked the company and they both knew how to give each other space when they needed it. Ranma had been dating Sarah for three years. Tonight was his adopted mom's birthday party and he was going to propose to Sarah after the festivities died down.

He was going to be late to the party due to being on call and then having to go out on search an avalanche report near a remote-ish ski resort. The resort had finally gotten a check in from all its staff and patrons and so he was about to head back. He wasn't too worried because the party was going to last well into the evening.

The emergency radio in his flyer suddenly came to life. "This is Sugimatsu of the HMS _Quay_. Clear the air space below the _Vulcan_ now! This is not a drill! Expect debris to hit the planet." The message repeated.

Ranma was not sure where the space station was, so he started do a search on his datapad. The search was taking longer than normal.

The emergency band suddenly changed its message mid sentence. "All flyers stay away from Yawata Crossing and the seashore. Debris strikes from the _Vulcan_ have hit Yawata Crossing and the Tannerman Ocean."

Ranma turned down the volume on the emergency band and picked up the Forestry Service radio to call into headquarters in Yawata Crossing, but no one answered. He switched it to the general ranger channel, but the few voices he heard did not know what was happening either. He checked in with the only Senior Ranger on the channel. He picked up his phone and tried to call, but all he got was the "Too many connections-try again later" message. A feeling of despair began to settle into his gut.

* * *

Ranma stared out the window of the shuttle that was taking her to Manticore. Sarah was dead. Her Mom was dead. Almost everyone she knew was dead. Uncle Alfred and his family, including Honor and her family, her Aunt Clarissa's kids Benedict and Leah, and her Uncle Allen were her only family left. Uncle Allen had already mentioned his intentions to return to Beowulf. She was on her way to Honor's husband's estates at White Haven on Uncle Alfred's request. It seemed like a good idea to Ranma. She needed to get away from Sphinx for a while. She had already put in her notice to the Forestry Service. The Chief Ranger's Office had said they understood and that the Acting Chief Ranger had said that she could have her spot back if she wanted it later. Her hand clutched the form of the ring box in her pocket. She knew she should put it away, but she could not do it yet. She was spending most of her time as a girl to try and help cope. It helped a little. Not much, but a little.

She put her other hand on Ama-chan's neck and rubbed it. Amaterasu's Black Rock Clan had been wiped out except for one other memory singer. Ama-chan was taking it hard. They supported each other as best they could.

* * *

Ranma was performing a kata in Earl White Haven's fenced yard. She had been doing that a lot over the past three months.

"Hey, Ranma," a contralto voice called. He looked over and saw the mixed European-Asian features of his adopted cousin Honor. She was wearing workout clothes.

"Honor," she acknowledged as she wound down her kata. "Back from Haven?"

She nodded and said. "Emily says you do this all day." Emily was the third partner in Honor's marriage with Hamish Alexander-Harrington. She was a very kind and personable lady who was wheelchair bound. In some ways Emily reminded Ranma of a more outspoken version of Kasumi Tendo. Since Honor had joined Hamish and Emily's marriage Ranma wondered if something like this would have worked back in Nerima. She came to the conclusion that based on her fiancées' personalities that it would have ended in disaster.

"It keeps my mind off things," Ranma replied.

"Fancy a spar? You look like you could work out some aggression."

Ranma nodded and waited for the older, taller woman to approach.

* * *

Honor groaned and rubbed her bicep. "You were a little rougher than normal, Ranma." The two of them were sitting on a bench at the side of the yard. Ama-chan and Honor's treecat partner Nimitz were sitting in their laps.

Ranma rubbed the back of her neck and chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that. You were right about my need to work out my aggression."

"It still amazes me how someone as small as you are is so strong and fast. And born on Old Earth as well with its light gravity."

"Well you've heard the type of training that my Sperm Donor put me through. I learned to focus my ki out of self defense. It's more effective than bulging muscles."

They sat in silence for a minute. "Do you have any plans, Ranma?" Honor asked.

She shook her head. "I hold to the Code of the Martial Artist: protect those who need it. That's one of the reasons I became a ranger-there isn't really any call for a wandering martial artist in the Star Kingdom-but against something like what hit Sphinx? I don't know what to do. I've thought about joining the military. Do you think that would let me help take down these bastards? Anyone know who did it yet?"

"Sorry, Ranma," she said apologetically. "We have some ideas, but we're not ready for public release yet, so I can't tell you anything."

She paused. "As for joining the military. . . You might be able to help. I know you have a great tactical mind from our spars, but I don't know if that will translate to being a good soldier."

She motioned for the older woman to continue. "If you want to help fight these guys, I can recommend either the Navy or the Marines. The Army will only be called in for occupation. I'm partial to the Navy, of course."

"Can you tell me more of what they do? Being a Marine sounds a little more appealing to me in that it would allow me to get close and personal."

"I have to tell you, Ranma, that personal is not good in a soldier or a sailor. Personal means that you aren't thinking clearly. You should also consider that if you're a Marine you will have to fight in formation and primarily using firearms. Most of your superiors would reprimand you for fighting like a martial artist. The military requires discipline, teamwork, order, and respect for authority. You're disciplined in your own way, but I can tell that you will need to work on your respect for authority-especially to those that don't really deserve it."

She laughed sheepishly. "You're right of course, but I can do it for a cause I can get behind. Some of my supervisors in the Forestry Service had me gritting my teeth and don't even make me talk about one of my professors."

Honor laughed. "I could tell you some good stories from my career some other time. Of course, the worst stories are from my time in the House of Lords."

"Thank the ancestors I don't have to deal with them." Ranma said.

Honor grinned in a disconcerting manner.

"What career path do you think would be good for me in the Navy?"

"I have two suggestions. Like I said before, I think you would be good in the tactics path. Incidentally, this is the unofficial command path which could give you a little more freedom eventually. The second option is to be a pilot. I think your martial arts style could lead to you being good at it. You're quick and have good awareness and reflexes. The RMN likes to rotate its officers through related postings, so you might even be able to do both. I think you would be wasted as enlisted, nor do I think you'd have the patience for being so low on the totem pole. I can easily sponsor you to Saganami Island and I have enough contacts in the Marines to do the same for their academy if you want to do that."

"Can I get back to you about this in a couple of days?" Ranma asked.

Honor nodded. "I have one more piece of advice about the military. If you do join you'll have to choose to be male or female and keep your condition on the down low. I don't know of any commander that would not find you switching back and forth a distraction. Plus your two forms are not the same size, and it may seem a small thing to you, but keeping a professional and well-fitting uniform is important in the military."

Ranma nodded. That meant she would have to enroll as female due to the "water magnet" aspect of her condition. Nowadays she preferred being female because it reminded her less of the family that would not happen now due to Sarah's death. "I can control it pretty well if I stay mostly as a female, but I have to spend a small amount of time as a male."

"It shouldn't be an issue if you change off duty and keep it private. A coded notice will need to be put in your file in case your CO needs to know or finds out. The First Lord will need to approve it, but I think I can convince him." The First Lord was her husband Hamish.

After another short pause Honor spoke again. "I'm glad we could talk about this, but I actually came out here to talk to you about something else. Technically, you should have been told about this months ago, but everyone thought I should be the one to tell you about this. Ranma, you're next in line for the Earldom of Harrington."

Ranma was shocked. "But Faith, or you, or even Benedict. . . I don't want to take someone else spot. I was adopted-as an adult even."

Honor laughed. "I had much the same thought when I was originally offered it-as well as my other titles. As for the others, Claire was the next oldest after Devon's dad and adoption confers all rights and privileges. If Faith or Raoul had been alive when they thought I had died, then one of them would have gotten it, being my heir, but since Devon's kids and Claire died, you're his surviving heir. I can't take it because the Charter prohibits the same person holding two voting Peerages. I'm technically also Countess White Haven, but it's just a courtesy title and I don't get any rights from it. And I'll be honest-if you decided to go into the military, a title will help your career. It shouldn't be that way, but it is."

Ranma frowned. "That would mean I'd need to take the title as a woman, but if I ever decide to have a family later it would be better to take it as a man."

Honor frowned as well. "I hadn't thought of that. The notoriety of a Peer of the Realm having your condition cause a feeding frenzy among the newsies that I assume you'd like to avoid."

"Yeah. I got enough of being called a 'freak' and a 'pervert' in my old life. I don't mind real friends knowing, but I don't want things to go back to the way they were in Nerima-and I'm not talking about the random martial arts challenges."

"Also, The Empress would like to talk to you. The official reason is about the Earldom, but I think it's mainly the stories I've told about you."

Ranma snorted. "Great."

"Is tomorrow at 2 o'clock fine?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. That should be okay."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I'm aware that Claire and Clarissa Harrington are almost certainly the same person, but I wanted one of Honor's aunts to be childless and unmarried for this story and it works if canon is read a certain way. For the purposes of APSoH, Honor's grandma wanted a Clarissa, but Honor's grandpa didn't. Claire was the compromise name. She finally wore him down though and got a Clarissa.


	3. Chapter 3: The Empress

Ranma entered Mount Royal Palace walking alongside Honor. Ama-chan was draped across her shoulders. She took up a lot more space on Ranma's petite frame than Nimitz did on Honor's larger frame. Ranma was wearing the red and black silk outfit she had customarily worn in Nerima at Honor's request. The only difference was that she was wearing a very stretchy undershirt with webbing in strategic places for support and modesty that functioned as a sports bra but would not look out of place on her male form. They were ushered into a large gym. There was a conference table with chairs set up along one edge. Ranma's eyes were drawn to the pitcher and the kettle on the table. Honor's husband Hamish was there as well as a man in a Navy uniform and a woman.

Hamish rose to meet them. He gave Honor a quick peck on the lips and then extended a hand to Ranma. "Good afternoon Ranma, Amaterasu. May I present Dame Penelope Singh, the Secretary of Bioscience, and Admiral Sir Thomas Caparelli, the First Space Lord."

Ranma shook each hand in turn and Ama-chan signed greatings. The presence of the Secretary of Bioscience made her a little nervous, but she trusted Honor and Hamish not to get her stuck in a lab as a guinea pig.

About five seconds after they were finished, a dark-skinned woman entered the room followed by Hamish's brother William whom she had met at Honor's wedding and a few times since she came to White Haven. He was the current Prime Minister. The other people in the room sketched quick bows and so Ranma gave a Japanese style bow a second later.

Hamish said, "Your Majesty, may I present Honor's adopted cousin Ranma Harrington, the heir to the Earldom of Harrington. Ranma, may I present Her Imperial Majesty Queen and Empress Elizabeth III and I. You've already met my brother William, Baron Grantville."

Ranma bowed again. "Your Majesty. Baron."

The Empress spoke, "It's a pleasure to meet you Ranma. I've heard many fascinating and frankly unbelievable stories about you."

Ranma rubbed the back of her head. "I've lead an unbelievable life. Although it's been a lot less so since I landed in your kingdom."

"Honor tends to tell me one of your stories whenever I need a good laugh. My favorite is 'Martial Arts Take Out.'" Honor giggled quietly to herself and Penelope and Thomas exchanged puzzled looks. "That was an interesting bow. I've not seen that style before."

"Bowing was like shaking hands in Pre-Diaspora Japan. I was never much for it since my Sperm Donor didn't let me learn any manners, but everyone did it, so I couldn't help but pick it up. Any manners I now have are due to my adopted Mom."

Elizabeth said, "I invited Dame Penelope here because she would never forgive me if I didn't allow her to see your condition in action and Sir Thomas because Honor has told me that you're interested in the military. I thought that we could start with a demonstration of your condition and then have a martial arts demonstration. Then we could talk about the Earldom and any concerns you might have about that and anything else you'd like to talk about. I'd like to keep this fairly informal if we could."

Honor had given Ranma some tips about what was appropriate to talk about with the Empress and what level of formality was really expected. Needless to say, the Empress's informal was much different than Ranma's even after she had matured since coming to Sphinx.

"I see Honor has told you about the traditional way of demonstrating," she said with a grin as she picked up an old-fashioned kettle. Ama-chan jumped off her shoulder in order to stay dry. Honor and the Empress exchanged grins.

Ranma poured the warm water on her head and reached down to loosen the drawstring on his pants. He glanced around the room and saw shock in the eyes of most of those that had not seen it before. He knew that they had all been warned, but "seeing is believing" is true for most people.

"Fascinating. And that was ordinary water?" said Penelope.

Ranma nodded. "It's a water-temperature-based curse that I picked up in Rural China on Earth. I'm not sure if the site is still there or not after 2,000 years."

"After seeing that, I can believe in time travel-at least going forward," chuckled Thomas. "The paradoxes involved in going backward are too mind blowing."

"Mom found a copy of my death certificate dated for when I was sent forward, so I assume it didn't involve any dimensional travel." Ranma dumped some cold water from the pitcher when he had finished talking and then adjusted the drawstring on her pants again.

"Does it hurt?" asked William.

"Only when I'm wearing the wrong type of clothes," Ranma said with a grin. "If I don't spend enough time as a girl, I tend to attract water. When I was living with my Sperm Donor, I tried to stay male as much as possible and so I was always triggering the change. It got to the point where I didn't really notice it."

"You didn't notice the 15-cm drop in height or the jiggling on your chest?" asked Penelope incredulously.

Ranma shrugged. "You can get used to anything. I'm sure I noticed it subconsciously, but my conscious mind ignored it frequently. It didn't help that my Sperm Donor indoctrinated me to be a male chauvinist, so I acted like an uncouth boy even when I was a girl. The way the Japanese language is structured made this even more obvious when I spoke. I was way beyond tomboyish."

Ranma switched gears. "For the martial arts, I thought I'd give a 10-minute solo demonstration and then if there's someone you'd like me to spar against, I can do that."

Honor spoke up, "For the best effect you should call in Ranma's sparring partner after the solo-demonstration so that they don't know what they're getting into. I'd also recommend getting the best you have available."

"That sounds good, Ranma," Elizabeth said.

Ranma moved to the center of the open space and ran through several kata, starting slow and then picking up speed. At the end she did some free-form acrobatics using the walls and ceiling as springboards.

Her audience clapped. "That was amazing, Ranma," the Empress said. "How did you jump so high and move so fast?"

"I've learned to focus what the Japanese call ki. You can think of it as life energy. It normally takes decades of training to be able to develop the ability to use it like I can. I developed the ability in only a single decade and at a young age due to the frankly horrific training regimen my Sperm Donor put me through. I can't recommend taking this short cut. Mom and my psychiatrist would have killed the idiot if he were still around."

"I've heard of claims that said things like this could be done, but they've never been scientifically replicated," said Penelope.

Ranma nodded. "Ki is a very personal and so different people have to awaken it differently and use it differently. This makes it hard to teach. There have never been many that had the ability due to the amount of work that it takes to develop them and the adepts tend to be insular. They were very rare when I was born. I imagine that they would be even more rare nowadays due to the general disbelief in the mystical."

Ranma took a drink of water and the Prime Minister spoke to a servant about fetching a sparring partner for her.

After a brief wait, a large very-fit-looking man in Marine fatigues entered the room. He bowed to the Empress and said, "Your Majesty."

"Ah, Sergeant Jones. Ranma here has asked me to provide her with a sparring partner. I think it best that we just let you two go at it without setting any expectations."

Jones looked slightly surprised, but was too professional or too intelligent to say anything. The two moved to the center of the room and faced off. Ranma took her old, casual not-a-stance stance with her I'm-not-taking-you-serious smirk that used to drive Akane and Ryoga crazy.

Jones made the first move and Ranma dodged. They spent half a minute feeling each other out. Ranma had to admit that Jones was very good. She was better, of course, but not by as much she would have thought. She was aware that her skills had stagnated some because she could not spend as much time as she used to at it. After about five minutes, Ranma decided to end it and threw Jones and quickly pinned him.

"Good match," she said letting him up. "You're very good."

"And you're better," he said. "How can a little thing like you be so strong? You didn't even budge blocking some of my better strikes."

"I had a disturbing childhood," she replied.

He looked at her like the answer didn't make sense, but he let it go. "Any time you want a re-match, I'm game," he said finally.

She smiled and shook his hand. "I'd like that, but I don't know when I'd be able. I'll get your contact info from the staff before I leave-just in case."

The Sergeant left and Ranma and the others went back to the table.

The Empress said, "That was amazing, Ranma. I have to admit that I got a kick out of seeing a petite, young woman dominate a big, tough Marine."

Ranma rubbed the back of her neck. "The two toughest opponents I've ever faced were a shrunken crone about two feet high and an equally old and shrunken pervert. To be honest I could be a lot better. At one point martial arts was my life. I don't devote enough to it now to be truly great, but I'm much happier and fulfilled nowadays. A part of me is sad about not being truly exceptional in the Art, but it's a small part of me."

"Really?" the Empress asked. "I've been told that Sergeant Jones is very good and what we've just seen you do is nothing short of amazing."

Ranma chuckled. "Don't get me wrong-the Sergeant is very good, but he has other duties and he probably doesn't run into someone that can truly challenge him very often. The same is true with me-I'm not a whole lot better than when I arrived in the Star Kingdom. When I lived in Nerima, I was getting better at a very rapid rate due to the constant challenges and the insane training regimen of my Sperm Donor."

"Regardless, that was an amazing demonstration," the Empress said.

Ranma bowed in acknowledgment.

"Now, on to the next topic: the Earldom of Harrington. As Honor told you, you are the surviving heir. Do you have any questions about it?"

"Wouldn't Faith or Benedict or even Uncle Alfred be a better choice?" Ranma asked.

William said, "If I may, Your Majesty?" The Empress nodded. "Any of those three would probably be fine choices, but they wouldn't be a better choice than you. The fact that you aren't seeking it speaks well of you and that you would likely use it to help the people of the Star Empire. We have too many Peers who use their power only to advance themselves. You also have a totally unique perspective that we feel would benefit the Star Empire. Hamish, Honor, and I have talked with the Empress about you and we feel you are the right person for the position. You can turn it down and the position would go to your Uncle, but he doesn't want it any more than you do."

Ranma sighed. "Very well." Inwardly she wondered what Kuno would think of Earl Ranma. She laughed in her mind keeping her outward visage calm. "I assume I need to decide whether I'll be an Earl or a Countess? The media circus that would surround my condition leaking out is something I'd rather avoid."

The Empress and the Prime Minister shared a look. William said, "We talked about it and we think that would be for the best, but even if it did leak out we would be glad to have you."

"I'm leaning towards joining the Navy. If I do, it would be as a woman because it is easier to hide my condition that way as there are times when a sailor has very little privacy. Honor has said that being the Countess Harrington would help my career."

"That is unfortunately true, both for the portion of the Navy that esteems the nobility and for the fact that it would emphasize that you are related to my wife," said Hamish. "Of course, there's a faction that will hold the later against you although they're currently out of favor." Thomas nodded.

"I'm one who likes to succeed on my own, but I'd also like to make a difference. It seems silly to throw away an advantage over something as silly as pride. On the other hand, if I start a family, I'd rather do it as a man which means I couldn't pass the title on to any descendents. Both of these are fairly minor considerations to me. Like I said before, I can do without the title, but I'd like your thoughts on my options."

William said, "So you'd like to have a way to share the title without revealing your condition?"

Ranma nodded. "Not just that. It'd be good for me to have a second identity, but I worry about being in the wrong form when I have to do something like go to the bank." The room was silent for a short time.

Hamish said, "So you need a way to be legally one person. Is that right?"

Penelope snorted and started laughing into her hand. "You know, in some traditions a husband and wife are considered one person."

William added, "It could work with the right prenuptial agreement."

"You want me to marry myself?" Ranma said incredulously. "What if I want to get married for real later? Divorce myself?"

Thomas laughed and gestured to Honor and Hamish. "It's not like there isn't precedent for polygamy in the Harrington Clan."

"How would that work if they got genetic samples of both my forms?" Ranma asked. "Mom had a full genetic sequencing of both forms done. My forms are as close to identical twins as individuals of different sexes can be. Essentially my girl form drops my male form's Y chromosome and doubles the X. All other chromosomes are the same."

"How is that possible?" asked Penelope. "Your hair colors are different and your heights are more different than I would expect from a man and a woman with the same genetics."

"I have one of the few genes for hair color that are found on the X and Y chromosomes. The gene that causes my red hair color is found on my X, but it's recessive. A gene that blocks it is found on my Y. Dropping my Y and doubling my X causes my red hair. As for my girl form's height, genetically only a disposition for height exists. Factors such as health and nutrition influence it almost as much. As near as I can tell, the magic just decided that my girl form should be short."

Penelope tapped her lips. "I might have a solution to this problem, but I'll need to discuss it with you first, William and Your Majesty."

The three of them left the room and Ranma told Thomas his Martial Arts Take Out Adventure since the Empress had already mentioned it.

After about half an hour, the three returned. Penelope spoke. "Her Majesty and the Prime Minister have allowed me to discuss a classified technology with you. You are not to discuss this technology with anyone not in this room or that we later tell you is fine. If you do, it could endanger the lives of some of the Star Empire's operatives. Do you understand and agree?"

"I do," Ranma answered seriously.

"We have nanotechnology that we can inject you with that will scavenge DNA that leaves your body and alter it and then degrades. The simplest way for it to benefit you is to program it to effect you only if it senses your Y chromosome. That way your male form will apparently not be closely related to your female form. It won't work for things like properly-drawn blood samples, since it requires air to trigger, but it'll work for blood stains, dried skin, hair, and similar residues. I'd recommend that we set you up to appear as second cousins so that the bots don't have to work so hard. This will also explain the physical similarities in your two forms."

"That sounds good to me, but are you sure you want to use this classified technology on me?" Ranma asked.

"I consider this a good stress test for the technology. While your situation is unique, I know our scientists have been looking for a way to rigorously test the conditional triggers they've built into the bots. To be above board, however, you would need to pay for it, however."

"You should be able to do that with your inheritances, Ranma," said Honor. "If not, I can help. I have way more money than I need."

"I'm a biologist by training, although my specialty isn't human biology, so I'd like to read the reports on the technology, if I can, before I commit to it. Is that okay?"

Penelope looked toward William who nodded. "That would be fine."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I admit that Ranma marrying himself is a little ridiculous. It's something that would be tried in the Ranmaverse and fail spectacularly and hilariously before going back to the status quo. They would never try in the Honorverse because of the scrutiny they know that a Peer and a cousin of Honor would receive. So the middle ground is that they try it and it succeeds, right? Right? Anyway the old Biblical phrase about husband and wife being "One Flesh" struck me and I couldn't resist.


	4. Chapter 4: Vows and Oaths

It had been two months since the initial discussion at Mount Royal and he was back in the palace.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Ranma muttered to himself. He was dressed in a tuxedo. Alfred and Benedict stood by him with Ama-chan who was not on his shoulder for once. The bride's party (Honor, Hamish, and Leah) were waiting in a nearby room without the bride.

Evidently Benedict had heard him because he smirked and said, "I can't believe you're doing this either."

Benedict was official the best man, if anyone asked. His sister Leah was official the bridesmaid and Honor was the matron. Alfred and Hamish were standing in for the fathers of the groom and the bride, respectively.

Honor's lawyer had drawn up a prenuptial agreement that Ranma had already signed in both his forms. It had been decided that his male side would keep the name Ranma Harrington. His female side would be called Ran Marie Harrington. The Crown had created a full set of records for her. His degrees were duplicated as well as his employment history. With the destruction of Yawata Crossing not many could dispute them. No one would actually guess the truth on their wildest guess even if they discovered the records were fabricated. His female side would join the Navy and would be active duty. His male side would also join and keep the same rank as she advanced up to a certain point, but would be officially squirreled away on some "black project." Ran Marie would also have been adopted by Claire, but since they were not supposed to be close blood relatives, they had been allowed to marry by a special Crown disposition. Ranma had elected to use the nanotechnology to disguise his male form's DNA, so he was marrying his second cousin by birth and his sister by adoption according to the official records.

Ranma had wanted a simple ceremony before a trustworthy judge, if an actual ceremony was required. He was getting that, mostly-but Honor and Allison had insisted that he (and she!) needed to dress up so that they could get at least one picture. They had claimed that it would be funny if he didn't have at least one. The picture would have to be doctored to have him appear in it twice, but Honor assured him that no one would be able to tell without very specialized equipment.

Ranma had put his foot down on having a Wedding March, or any of the normal accompaniments of a wedding. The only thing he had given in on were flowers and some modest decorations for the room it actually took place in.

A servant entered the room and said, "The Empress is here."

Ranma entered the room with Ama-chan and Alfred on either side of him and Benedict trailing behind him. The judge who would perform the ceremony was standing at the front. The Empress and the Prince Consort were seated in the room as well as the rest of those at the previous meeting and his remaining adopted relatives. The room also contained quite a few treecats. From the other side Hamish, Honor, and Leah walked in.

The judge said, "We are here to wed Ranma Harrington to Ran Marie Harrington. Are there any objections?" Benedict snickered beside Ranma, who elbowed him.

The judge turned to Ranma, "Ranma Harrington, do you take Ran Marie Harrington to be your legal and lawful wife."

"I do."

The judge nodded and Ranma left the room to go to the Bride's Dressing Room, which was a prepared woman's restroom, with Honor and Leah. He picked up a glass of water set aside on the sink and entered a stall. He stripped down and poured the water on his chest-he did not want his hair wet. She dressed in her undergarments and left the stall. Honor and Leah helped her get into her wedding dress, fix her hair, and apply a small amount of make up. The dress was fairly simple and at Ranma's insistence did not have a train.

The three of them walked back into the room with the judge and Ran took her place next to Hamish and Leah.

The judge said, "Ran Marie Harrington, do you take Ranma Harrington to be your legal and lawful husband?"

"I do."

"By the authority vested in me by the Star Empire of Manticore, I pronounce you husband and wife."

The "you may now kiss the bride" was conspicuously absent.

Ran signed the marriage certificate and posed for three pictures: one with all the guests, one with just the Harrington Clan, and one by herself. Then she went and changed in the restroom back to her male form and tuxedo. He signed the marriage certificate as a male and posed for several pictures by himself that could be superimposed on the pictures with his female form. The Empress and Prince Consort signed in the witness lines on the certificate.

The Empress congratulated Ranma.

He shook his head and said, "I still don't understand why all this was necessary."

She laughed and said, "Let your Aunt and female cousins have their fun. Besides the pictures will make it a better cover. Come by tomorrow at 2 in the afternoon and we can get you sworn in as Earl and Countess."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he said.

All the non-Harringtons left after a short bit. Ranma changed into something more comfortable than the tux and rejoined his extended family. Allen was heading back to Beowulf, his home planet, tomorrow and the clan didn't know when they would see him again.

* * *

Ran stood next to a body double for her male self in one of the anterooms adjacent to the meeting chamber for the House of Lords. Ama-chan was perched on her shoulder. Honor had paid for body sculpt for the double claiming that she had more money than she could spend and that she owed the Lords a good prank for them tossing her out years ago. Ran was in her female form because it was easier to get a double for her male body's type. She would be in charge of finding someone if she needed to do this again. The sound system in the anteroom let them know what the Speaker was saying.

"Our first order of business is to welcome the new Earl and Countess Harrington," the Speaker of the Lords said.

Ran and the body double walked to their seats which an usher had pointed out beforehand. The Lords liked their comfort, so there was enough room at their spot for two seats-even if it was not incredibly spacious.

"The Earl and Countess have decided to share the Peerage due to some personal special circumstances. The Crown and the Government have agreed to this, but do not want this to become a common occurrence, so they have set the following requirements: both the Earl and the Countess have voting rights, whichever is present exercises the voting rights, if they disagree, the vote counts as abstaining, the split of the Earldom is permanent while both live, divorce will not reverse the split, and the first heir of either will inherit the full Earldom once both are deceased. If any other Peer wishes to share the Peerage with a spouse, they must agree to the same contingencies."

A light on the desk of Stefan Young, Earl North Hollow, lit. Honor had warned Ran that the Conservative Association made North Hollow its Harrington stalking horse as punishment for his deceased brother's feud with Honor. His job was to question everything Honor said, since no one expected him to play nice with her anyway. This allowed the Conservatives to get a word in with little political consequences which they could easily expand on if they had something legitimate to say. Ran supposed that she got lumped in with Honor, being another Harrington.

"Earl North Hollow?" said the Speaker.

"One wonders why the Harrington Clan," said North Hollow, "has decided to grace us with yet another deviant practice. My understanding is that you are siblings?"

North Hollow must have had someone search for information on the new Earl and Countess. Ran looked at his aura. It looked bored rather than malicious confirming Ran's guess that he was just going through the motions. Ran pushed the attention button and waited for the Speaker to acknowledge her.

"It is true that we are adopted siblings," Ran said, "but we are not siblings by blood. This is one of the reasons we decided to share the Peerage. No one knows which of us was adopted first, since it was done at the same time. The Crown gave us a special disposition to marry since we are not violating any legitimate incest taboo." Ran was proud of herself for avoiding the supposed actual relationship with her other self.

No one had any other questions for the new Earl and Countess and no one issued a formal request to bar them from their seat. The Grantville Government and the Harrington name were too popular, currently, to oppose over something which everyone supposed would be a disadvantage.


	5. Chapter 5: From Cadet to Commander

Ranma entered Hamish's study at White Hollow. He had just finished his first year at Saganami Island and wanted some advice. He had gotten enough transfer credits from his biology degree in order to start off as a Sophomore, so he was halfway through the program. Hamish was seated in his favorite armchair and Emily was seated next to him in her hoverchair. Honor was off-planet with Eighth Fleet.

"It's nice to see you, Ranma," said Emily. "The Academy has been keeping you too busy."

Hamish got up to shake Ranma's hand. "It's nice to see both of you. Thanks for letting me come over," Ranma said as they shook.

"You're always welcome here," said Emily. Ranma leaned down to give her a hug.

"It's rare that I see you as a man, Ranma. It's a little strange to be honest," said Emily.

Ranma chuckled. "After Sarah died I just didn't feel like it, but it's been a year and a half and I've been spending most of my time as woman at the Island. I just needed some 'guy time.'" He shielded his mouth from Hamish and stage whispered, "If you need some female companionship, my darling wife can come out later and the two of you can eat ice cream out of the carton and gossip all evening."

Emily rolled her eyes and Hamish chuckled. The three of them caught up and made small talk for an hour.

Ranma said, "Not that I don't enjoy visiting, but I did have an ulterior motive for coming to visit." He looked at Hamish. "I'd like some advice on which track to apply to at the Academy. Based on what Honor suggested-and my own research-I've taken the intro classes and labs for the Tactics Track and the Pilot Track. I like them both, but I'm leaning toward Tactics and I wanted to get your feel on how feasible it is. I understand it is very competitive."

"To be honest they're both very competitive," Hamish replied. "How are your grades?"

"My grades are good, but not top of the line. However, my simulator scores are top of my class in both. Heh, my Piloting Lab instructor was actually drooling. If I had signed up when I first got to the Star Kingdom, I'd have been tempted to go that route. Piloting an assault shuttle in under fire would have really gotten my blood pumping, but I've settled down a bunch since then and seeing a plan come together is a lot more satisfying now."

"Did you bring your portfolio?"

Ranma passed over a data chip which Hamish plugged into a handheld reader.

"Your grades are borderline, but they put a lot of emphasis into the simulator scores. I think you could get into either track."

"I've heard lots of rumors on the best way to get what you want. Some people say to not put down a third choice or even a second. Others say not to put down a second choice if you look better at it than your first choice. You know if any of those type of rumors are true?"

Hamish handed the data chip back and slapped Ranma on the back. "They are and they aren't. It really depends on who does the sorting and who's on the selection committees. My advice is to not second guess yourself. Put down what you want to do. If you get a second or third choice, it's better than getting something you didn't want at all, right?"

Ranma chuckled. "Good advice."

* * *

Midshipwoman Lady Ran Marie Harrington, Countess Harrington approached the two marines standing guard at the tube that led to her first assignment, the _HMS Coyote_ , a Light Cruiser, with Amaterasu on her shoulder. The marines saluted her and she returned it more crisply than anyone back in Nerima would have imagined.

"Midshipwoman Harrington to join the ship's company, Corporal," she said to the higher ranked of the two. She offered him the chip with her orders on it.

"Thank you, Ma'am," he said. The marine slotted the chip and verified that she was who she said and that she was in the right place. "It checks out."

She nodded in response.

"The Executive Officer, Commander Smith, is standing watch currently. You're actually the first of our three midshipmen to come aboard."

"Than you, Corporal, Private," she said to the two marines as she made her way into the tube.

* * *

Fifteen years after her "snotty cruise," about twenty-seven years after her arrival on Sphinx, Commander Lady Ran Marie Harrington, Countess Harrington once again approached an access tube. This time she had a white beret tucked into one of her shoulder epaulets. Amaterasu rode on the other shoulder. The marines at the tube entrance saluted as she approached. She returned the salute.

"Commander Harrington to join the ship's company, Corporal," she said. She offered a chip with her orders. She carried a paper copy in a pocket for later.

"Thank you, Ma'am," the marine said. She slotted the chip that Ran had handed her an perused its contents on the display."

"The executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Kunou, is on watch. We'll let him know you're coming."

Ran smirked to herself. She'd never met the Lieutenant Commander before, but she knew him by reputation. He was nothing like the idiot who had sent her forward in time. She entered the tube and navigated its length. She swung out of the tube into the ship. She was met by a male officer with Lieutenant Commander rank insignia and a small group of marines.

The man saluted her and she returned the salute. "Permission to come aboard?" she said.

"Permission granted," he said. "May I escort you to the bridge, Ma'am?"

"Thank you. Yes," she responded.

They walked with toward the bridge of the Destroyer. When they reached the bridge she walked to the Captain's chair and keyed the intercom without sitting. She pulled out the paper copy of her orders and read, "From Admiral Sir Lucien Cortez, Fifth Space Lord, Royal Manitcoran Navy to Commander Lady Ran Marie Harrington, Royal Manticorn Navy, Twenty-Seventh Day, Sixth Month, Year Three Hundred and Three After Landing. Madam: You are hereby directed and required to proceed aboard Her Imperial Majesty's Starship _Kusanagi_ , DD-Eight-Eight, there to take upon yourself the duties and responsibilities of commanding officer in the service of the Crown. Fail not in this charge at your peril. By order of Admiral Lord Hamish Alexander-Harrington, First Lord of Admiralty, Royal Manticoran Navy, for Her Imperial Majesty the Queen and Empress."

She paused and then turned to Kunou. "Mr. Exec, I assume command."

"Captain," he responded, "you have command."


	6. Chapter 6: The Past Comes to the Future

Ran sat at the Captain's Chair, thinking. She had been the captain of the _Kusangi_ for almost five years. It was a slow evening not quite four T-months into their current assignment and she had scheduled herself to be Officer of the Watch during the ship's "swing shift" for this week. They were on a routine six T-month patrol through the Silesian Protectorate, showing the flag and occasionally dealing with pirates, as needed. For some reason she was thinking of her life before arriving in the Star Empire. She weekly practiced her Japanese and Chinese on the off-chance that someone from her old life managed to follow her—she wouldn't put it past the Old Ghoul—but after over a decade, she did not really think about why very often. When she had first started it had been five years since her arrival and she was amazed at how rusty her Japanese had been, so she had started re-learning it. She had opted to learn Chinese too, just in case.

By this time, she had gotten over the dislike she had of her father even if she still did not respect him. Her thoughts on the Tendos were dulled by time, although she thought she might like to see Kasumi again and wondered if she and Akane would get along better now. She had to shake her head at the thought that Ryouga had been her best friend back then, which was sad on both their parts.

Amaterasu, who was perched on her shoulder, shifted and let out a bleek. Ran looked up and saw a twisting in the air in an open space in front of her. She stood up and saw two women appear and drop a short distance to the floor. The younger one had short, dark hair and was wearing a yellow gi. She looked familiar. The older one had auburn hair and looked very similar to what Ran might have looked like if she had not received Prolong. She was wearing a kimono. They both had Japanese features and carrying weapons: the younger a naginata and the older a Katana. According to their auras they looked wary.

The redhead said in Japanese, " _This does not look like any kind of hell, I've heard of._ "

The younger one said, also in Japanese, " _It looks very science fiction-ish_." Ran now recognized her as Akane Tendo. She did not look much older than Ran remembered.

Ran pressed her intercom and said, "I need four marines to the bridge with sidearms two deal with two intruders. I don't think it will be necessary, as I recognize one of them, so please follow my lead."

A voice on the chair's intercom responded, "Aye. Sending four marines with safeties on."

Akane looked at Ran and then turned to the redhead in Japanese, " _I think that was English. It was a very strange accent though._ "

Ran decided to wait to stall until the marines got there or the two did something.

Akane began to speak haltingly in English, "Speak English? My English poor. Speak Japanese?"

Ran decided to have mercy on them and spoke in Japanese, " _I speak Japanese, but it's been a long time since I've spoken it to anyone other than myself._ "

" _Oh, wonderful_ ," said the older woman. Both of the women's auras calmed down, but they still seemed cautious. " _My English was never good, and it's been a long time since school. Where are you from? Your accent is very odd._ "

" _I traveled all over Japan when I was young, but I'm originally from the Tokyo area, I think_."

" _Really? You don't sound like a Tokyo native_ ," said Akane. Akane was looking at her like she was trying to figure out her identity. She was probably having a hard time recognizing her due to her due to her uniform and especially the beret that covered her now-short hair.

" _I came to the Star Empire of Manticore when I was sixteen and forgot most of my Japanese. I relearned it about twenty-five years ago, much more formally than I had before, on the off-chance that I ran into someone from my birth country, but like I said I haven't had anyone to practice with since everyone I know speaks English_."

" _You don't look much older than twenty now_ ," said Akane.

" _I'm 48_ ," Ran replied with a smile at their shocked looks. " _I look to you like I'm in my twenties due to something called Prolong._ "

Ran noticed that the marines had arrived and said in English, "Sergeant, I believe I have it under control, but I'd like you and your squad to stand by."

She turned to the Japanese women and said in Japanese, " _This is the bridge of a military starship. While nothing important is happening right now, it would be best if we adjourned to my conference room where we can introduce ourselves and discuss what has happened._ "

Akane and the redhead both nodded.

" _I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to relinquish your blades in order to prevent accidents or misunderstandings_."

Akane did not look pleased, but nodded. The redhead said, " _Ma'am, this is my family honor blade, I can't be parted from it._ " Her aura was agitated.

" _I don't think you understand. You just appeared on the bridge of a military starship without warning. I cannot allow you to keep any weapons. I am going to have to insist that you surrender the blade._ "

" _Very well. Please keep good care of it_."

" _We will_ ," Ran said. She switched to English and said, "Sergeant, please have someone politely collect the blades from these women and place the blades in my quarters. Lieutenant Adams, you have the bridge."

"I have the bridge, Ma'am," said the Communications Officer.

The sergeant told off the only woman of the squad to get the blades.

" _Please follow me_ ," Ran said in Japanese

She lead them to a room with a table. One of the Marines stayed outside the room while the other two, including the sergeant took up positions just inside the door. Ran gestured to seats which would put the women's backs to the door and then took a seat at the table opposite them.

" _Why don't you introduce yourselves and why you're here? Then I'll introduce myself and tell you where you are. From there, we can decide what to do._ "

The women looked at each other and then the older spoke. " _My name is Saotome Nodoka,_ " Ran blinked. This woman was her biological mother according to the records that her adopted mom had found for her. " _And this is Tendo Akane, my son's fiancée. About a year and a half ago my son, Saotome Ranma, disappeared due to the actions of a deluded young man and what we can only describe as magic. According to Akane and other witnesses, the young man wished my son to 'his personal hell.' We have been training and searching for a way to rescue him since then. Please, is there any way you can help us?_ "

Ran sighed internally. She wasn't sure how to handle this. She had a plan for if the Amazons showed up, but had never expected her biological mother. She spoke to the marines first, "I believe this woman is a close relative that has been searching for me. Things are likely to get emotional. Please don't interfere unless I signal." Akane was trying to puzzle out what she had said and was looking at her intently.

She switched to Japanese, " _I know your son._ " The two women's face lit up. " _Are you aware of your son's curse?_ " Nodoka frowned, but nodded. " _My name is_ Countess Ran Marie Harrington, _Commander in the Royal_ Manticoran _Navy and Captain of Her Majesty's Starship Kusangi._ " She took off her beret so they could see her red hair. " _But I was born Saotome Ranma. Hello, Akane, Mother._ "

Nodoka began to cry. Her aura spiked into relief and joy. She raced around the table and wrapped her in a hug. Akane followed more slowly and stood beside the two redheads with her eyes also watery.

After a few minutes, Nodoka said, " _Hot water changes you back, right? Can I see my son?_ "

Ran sighed and said, " _No._ "

Akane gasped. " _Are you locked?_ "

Ran grimaced. " _No, but very few people know about my condition and I'd like to keep it that way._ " She turned to Nodoka. " _Has Akane told you how I always attract water?_ " She nodded. " _It really only really happens when I am a man. If I want to keep my condition hidden and I'm in public view a lot, I have to be a woman. I wanted to serve my star nation, but there's no real way to do so as a man._ "

Nodoka grimaced. Her aura became worried. " _Didn't your father teach you to be manly?_ "

Ran snorted. " _My father taught me nothing but martial arts and how to be a lazy, arrogant, lying, and chauvinistic thief, if you count by example._ "

Nodoka frowned. " _So he did not tell you of the seppuku contract?_ "

Ran shook her head.

Nodoka continued, " _You and your father signed a contract that you would become manly or you would both commit seppuku before the training journey. I would show you, but Akane convinced me not to bring it._ "

Akane rolled her eyes. Her aura was anxious.

" _I had to have been less than five. The contract is invalid._ "

" _But family honor. . ._ "

" _Did your really come all this way to try and convince me to kill myself?_ "

" _No, but. . ._ "

" _I personally took an oath to my Empress to protect my star nation. That oath is way more important to me than some silly, invalid contract, which would have been illegal in Japan at the time, by the way. And don't get me started on the Panda's lack of honor. If you insist on that contract, I will be forced to sever relations with you._ "

" _No, Ranma, I . . ._ " Nodoka started sniffling. According to her aura, her emotions were completely scrambled. " _I didn't want your father to take you on that training trip. He left behind only the contract and as time went on I became obsessed with the contract as the promise that he would return with you. Akane and others have told me to forget about the contract, and I've tried but I can't help but think of it._ "

" _Very well. I'll try not to hold it against you, but if you become pushy about it, I'll have no choice._ " She paused. " _Would you like me to tell you what happened to me?_ "

Nodoka's emotions largely calmed down and she said, " _Yes, please._ "

" _Before you do,_ " said Akane, " _can you tell us about your pet? I've never seen anything like it._ "

" _Forgive me!_ " Ran said. " _This is Amaterasu and she is my companion, rather than my pet. I should have introduced you before now._ " Amaterasu bleeked and bopped her on the head with her true hand. Akane giggled. " _Ama-chan is a_ Treecat, _which translates to cat of trees. She's a member of the native intelligent species on my adopted planet,_ Sphinx. _They can't speak since they don't have the right vocal apparatus, but they can use sign language to communicate with us. Some of them have taken to adopting humans. I was lucky enough to be adopted by Ama-chan._ "

" _Pleased to meet you, Ama-chan,_ " said Akane.

" _Thank you for taking care of my son,_ " said Nodoka.

Amaterasu made some signs. " _She picked up Japanese from listening to me practice, so she understood what you've said,_ " said Ran. " _She says that she is equally pleased to meet you and that taking care of me has been occasionally frustrating, but never boring._ "

All three humans laughed and the treecat bleeked in agreement.

" _When Kuno wished for me to be sent to my 'personal hell' I was sent to_ Sphinx _and landed in a_ hexapuma _, which translates as six lion because they look like a panther with six legs, sort of like a giant, more feline_ treecat _. I don't remember how many_ hexapumas _were there, but there were a bunch of them. I rapidly fell into the cat fist. I was found by Ama-chan and I stayed with their clan for about an earth year (a_ Sphinx _year is over 5 earth years long). Also, we're about 2,000 years in the future and not super close to Earth. I've seen a copy of my death certificate._ "

Ran went on to describe how she gradually, but not completely came out of the cat fist, Ama-chan taking her to a Ranger station, changing back to male to the surprise of the Rangers which snapped him the rest of the way out of the cat fist, some background on the Star Empire, Prolong, being fostered to Claire Harrington, being adopted, getting a university degree, becoming close to the other Harringtons, Sarah, being ready to propose, the Yawata Strike which killed her adopted mom, Sarah, and most of the other Harringtons, recovering on Manticore with the Alexander-Harringtons, inheriting Sarah's dad's title, meeting the Empress, marrying herself to make being both male and female easier, her male and female identities and the nanotech that superficially made her two forms appear not closely related, joining the Navy, and her progress to being Captain of the _Kusanagi_.

" _I can't believe you married yourself,_ " grumped Akane. " _Or maybe I can. Your ego was always big enough. I guess no one wins the contest._ "

" _The marriage is just a legal smokescreen. Polygamy isn't common in the Star Empire, but it's not illegal. One of my adopted cousins married into an already existing marriage, so it's not really an issue other than possibly a little bit of embarrassment for anyone that I might marry. But I really don't appreciate the contest comment, Akane. Being fought over like a prize is one of the reasons I never picked any of you._ "

Akane looked down and her aura became embarrassed. " _I'm sorry, Ranma. Things were pretty crazy between our egos, our fathers, and the others. Neither one of us acted very maturely._ "

Ran snorted. " _That's true. I'll apologize for calling you uncute and the sexist remarks, if you apologize for the beatings and calling me a pervert. Deal?_ "

Akane smiled. " _Deal._ "

Ran smirked. " _It's ironic that I've become a bigger tomboy than you ever were._ "

" _So are you really a Lord, Ranma?_ " Nodoka asked.

" _Yes. I'm a Lord and a Lady. Both my forms are nobles in their own rights. The Star Empire has three tiers of nobility. Countess and Earl are the middle tier. Nobles in the Star Empire do not have vassals, though, unlike Japan used to. The system is pretty similar to Great Britain was in our birth time, although the nobles have more power because the House of Lords controlled the purse rather than the Commons until recently._ "

" _I'm so proud of you._ "

" _The nobility thing is not really an accomplishment since I just lucked into it. I'm much prouder of being a starship captain._ "

She paused and then stretched. " _We've been talking a long time, and I need to brief my officers on what's happened, but I need to know if I can expect anyone else from Nerima?_ "

Akane shook her head. " _I don't think so. As far as we know, no one else was looking for a way to rescue you?_ "

" _I need to go through the checklist to make sure. What about the Amazons? I wouldn't expect Shampoo to give up and Cologne is quite resourceful. She was actually the one I was expecting to succeed, if anyone did._ "

" _It's odd,_ " Akane said. " _I know Shampoo genuinely liked you and that she's sad that you got sent to 'hell,' but when we had the funeral a year after your disappearance she seemed relieved as well as sad._ "

Ran smirked. " _Must not have liked her chances to actually succeed._ "

" _They were still in Nerima, in case you showed up, so the relief may have been a smokescreen or maybe they just didn't want to go back to their backwater village._ "

" _I had a huge rant prepared about how the Kiss of Death and the Kiss of Marriage were both considered Crimes against Humanity by the almost the whole world outside their barbaric village because they were just other names for honor killing and sex trafficking and attempting or encouraging either would land them in jail anywhere in the world due to international treaties of which China and Japan were both signatories. I'll miss not giving them the rant, but to be honest I'd rather not deal with them despite having some good times._ "

" _If it makes you feel any better,_ " Akane said, " _Nabiki gave a version of that rant when Cologne called you son-in-law at the funeral._ "

" _Wow! Nabiki did that?_ " Ran said. " _I didn't know she cared._ "

" _While Nabiki isn't as cold or heartless as she appears,_ " Akane said, " _I think she did it more out of irritation with Cologne's smugness than any fondness for you._ "

Ran snorted. " _Okay. What about Ryouga?_ "

" _He's been crowing about you 'seeing hell.' I don't think he'll come looking for you, but with him, it's hard to tell where and when he'll show up. By the way,_ " Akane growled, " _I'm still irritated with you about hiding that he was P-chan from me._ "

" _I know how wrong it was now, but turning into a pig was a massive weakness and I had promised him not to tell before he started pretending to be your pet. With no good examples of honorable behavior, I didn't know that your honor superseded my promise. I tried to compromise by chasing him away or dropping clues, but for not telling you straight out, you have my deepest regrets. My adopted mom managed to drill feminine modesty into my head and I've lived almost 32 years mostly as a woman, so I do understand._ "

" _Alright. I forgive you. If I told my idiot father that I forgave him, I can forgive you—at least you tried to stop him. Father claimed he let it happen to encourage you, if you can believe it._ "

" _How about either of the Kunos?_ " Ran asked.

" _After your funeral, Kuno convinced father to set up an engagement by offering him a huge amount of money. I recorded one of his rants and one of his father's and sent it to several TV stations. A couple of them had the guts to air it which caused enough controversy that the police had to investigate the complaints against the individual Kunos and all three were checked into a mental hospital._ "

" _Serves them right._ " Ran smirked. " _Ukyo?_ "

" _After your funeral her father finally relented and let her register as a woman again. She's sad that you're gone, but has too much to risk coming after you._ "

" _It's probably for the best. I have no interest in the restaurant business, and she couldn't understand that. I do regret all the misunderstandings with her though. She was a real friend when I was little. How about the fathers?_ "

Akane shook her head. " _They might try to wish you back, but they aren't coming near anything described as a 'hell.'_ "

" _Thanks for the run down, Akane,_ " Ran said. " _I'll have the marines show you to quarters and I'll talk to you tomorrow. It's late evening ship time. If you're hungry, tell the marine and he'll have something sent to you._ " She paused and then looked at Nodoka. " _I'm not sure if you caught it during my story, but Ran Marie Harrington is your biological child. Ranma Harrington is not. He is your son-in-law. It would make my life very difficult if my condition got out, so I ask that you call me Ran or Ran Marie when I look like this. I won't object if you call me son when I'm male, but if anyone asks, please clarify that the male me is your son-in-law._ "

Ran gave them both hugs and said her goodbyes. She gave instructions to the marine sergeant and the other two women left so that she could have her briefing.


	7. Chapter 7: Getting (Re)Acquainted

Ran got up a little later than normal the next morning. After her biological mother and Akane had left, she had called in her XO and had a long meeting with him about the implications of the "transient personal wormhole" phenomenon and whether it would happen again and what type of people they could expect if it did. Ran could anticipate the migraines that the Amazons or Ryouga would cause if they showed up. She couldn't expect them to nicely stay in the brig. She and Kunou had decided that they needed to cut short their assignment and return to Manticore, although it would still take most of a week to get there. Luckily she had discussed the possibility with Hamish and Sir Thomas, although she had considered it remote, and had they had issued a code phrase that allowed her to debrief the situation directly to them. She told Kunou to tell the crew that what had happened was classified until the Admiralty was informed.

After talking to Kunou, she had talked to the First Lieutenant in charge of the small marine detachment about security with two civilians on board and the Chief Surgeon about vaccinating the two women and scanning them for pathogens. He also ordered a DNA test on Nodoka to verify that she was her mother.

After she had finished getting up and showered, she called in her steward, John Johnson. She had first met him when she was assigned to the _Kusanagi_ , but he had been thoroughly vetted. By now, they were thoroughly familiar with each other's habits. He was the only one on the ship who knew about her condition other than Akane and Nodoka. Last night right before going to bed she had informed him of their visitors and asked him to help see to their needs.

Johnson brought in her breakfast and Ama-chan's, which did not come with any hot drinks—no point tempting fate.

"Johnson, can you get me two foreign diplomat datapads that can be loaded with the 'English as a Second Language' course?" The foreign diplomat datapads had limited access to the ship's network.

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. "I've already made sure that your guests have had breakfast. Are you headed over there now?"

"Yes, as soon as I eat and check with the Officer of the Watch."

"I'll have the datapads ready shortly, Ma'am."

Before long Johnson had returned with the datapads and Ran had verified that nothing unusual had happened while she slept. She and Ama-chan took the short walk to the VIP guest quarters that Akane and Nodoka had been assigned to. A marine guard was standing outside. She knocked on the door. Akane answered.

" _Hello, Ran,_ " she said.

" _Good morning, Akane._ "

" _Would you like to come in?_ " Akane asked.

" _For a moment,_ " Ran replied. " _I think we'd be more comfortable in my quarters. I thought I could show you and Mother my photo album._ "

" _Good morning, Ran,_ " said Nodoka coming from the back of the room. " _I would love to see your photo album._ "

Ran handed the datapads to the other women. " _These datapads have an 'English as a Second Language' course on them that I think you should look at. There's also some information on the Star Empire of Manticore and its planets, but it's in English. The datapads are designed for diplomatic VIPs so don't worry about accidentally stumbling onto sensitive information._ " She then went on to explain how to navigate the datapads.

" _Unfortunately, since this is a warship, and a relatively small one at that, we don't have a lot of areas I can show you and I'm going to have to ask you to take a marine with you when you leave your quarters._ "

" _Don't you trust us, Ran?_ " asked Akane. She was starting to show the first signs of losing her temper.

" _It's not a matter of trust, Akane. There are some pretty strict laws and regulations concerning civilians, especially foreign ones, on Manticoran warships. Even though I'm the captain, I still have to abide by them. But mostly, I'm trying to protect you from being accused of espionage._ "

" _Oh,_ " responded Akane.

" _Are you ready?_ " Ran asked.

Both of the other women nodded.

" _Follow me please._ "

They walked down the corridor to where Ran's quarters were located. She ushered them in. Ran pointed them to a model of the _Kusanagi_ that was on a shelf along the wall. " _That's the Kusanagi_. _The starship we're on. She's a destroyer, which is the smallest of the hyper-capable ships that Manticore fields._ "

" _Hyper-capable?_ " asked Akane. " _That means it can go faster than light, right?_ "

" _Yes,_ " Ran responded, " _Hyperspace is a like a layer of space-time where distances are shorter, so you can effectively travel faster than light. There are different layers, or bands, that allow different effective speeds._ "

" _It's an odd shape for a spaceship,_ " commented Nodoka, referring to the mostly cylindrical shape.

" _The shape is determined by the physics of our engine and drive system. There's not any other real shape we could make it with the technology we use._ "

Ran pointed to a set of four pictures on her dresser. " _There's my wedding picture, Me with Sarah, the girl I'd hoped to marry, me with my adopted mom, and the extended Harrington clan._ " Ama-chan appeared in the middle two pictures. She and two other treecats were in the last one. Ran pulled out a specialized datapad. " _Here's my photo album. I assume you want to see the other me in person?_ "

Nodoka nodded. " _Very much._ "

Ran grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom. She came out dressed in a pair of loose shorts with a drawstring and an oversized shirt. She was carrying two glasses of water. She poured one of her head and became him.

Nodoka ran and hugged him sniffling. " _I've been waiting for you to come back to me for 13 years. I'm so happy to have finally found you._ "

" _Whoa, Mother,_ " he said. " _I'm still me in either form. I'm just a little bit more emotional as a woman, but that's it._ "

" _It just feels more real to see you like this, since I know I didn't give birth to a daughter._ "

Ranma sat down on the room's couch and placed the other glass of water on a table next to him. He described the pictures in the photo album to the women as they flipped through them on the datapad.

As they finished, Nodoka said, " _I'm very glad that you found a family to be happy with, Ranma. I only wish it could have been with me._ "

" _Me too. I only wish I'd had longer with them_. _I still see my surviving cousins when we're able, but it's not as often as I'd like since Honor and I are both in the Navy. She and her children also have responsibilities on Grayson, which is in a different start system than Manticore._ "

Nodoka described what she had been doing while Ranma and Genma were on the training trip. She had kept busy being a Kendo instructor. She had had a private investigator on retainer looking for information on them after they failed to show up when they were supposed to three months into the trip. When the PI had found the police report after Ranma's disappearance, she had located the Tendos. Akane and Kasumi had told her what had happened as well as some of the stories that they new of Ranma. Nodoka had almost killed Genma in response, but the panda was nothing if not resilient.

Akane had wanted to seriously train to help get Ranma back, but her father always had excuses as to why he could not train her, so she had gotten Nodoka to direct her to senseis that would actually teach her. Kuno had caused a bunch of problems culminating in the engagement bribe and being checked into the mental hospital. Nabiki had found out about Ryoga being P-Chan and spilled the beans on that.

It had taken over a year of searching to find an artifact that turned out to be real and able to wish them to Ranma.

" _Do you have a way back?_ " he asked.

" _No,_ " said Nodoka, " _The artifact was supposed to have three wishes, but it didn't come with us like we expected it to._ "

Ranma looked at Akane thoughtfully. " _I get why Mother came, but why did you, Akane._ "

Akane looked a little bit embarrassed. " _Partly it was because I thought I owed you for the times you rescued me. Partly it was because I couldn't let Auntie Nodoka come by herself. Partly it was because I couldn't see my life going anywhere. I love my sisters and father, but Nabiki and Daddy were drive me crazy frequently. I'll miss them but. . ._ "

Ranma looked at the clock on the wall. " _It's almost time for lunch. Let me change back and I'll call my steward and we'll eat._ "

* * *

The next day found Ran talking to the two Japanese women again. " _I don't think it's too early to start planning what you two want to do once we get back to the Manticore System,_ " she said. " _I have enough money that you don't have to have a career, but I think you'll want to have something to keep you occupied. Mother, you said that you taught Kendo? Is that something you want to keep doing?_ "

" _Yes. Will I have to get licensed or have a degree?_ "

" _I don't know for sure, but I don't think so,_ " Ran replied. " _You might need something like that if you want to start out your own dojo, but if you convince an established dojo to hire you, you may only need to do a try out._ _How about you, Akane?_ "

" _I've been so set on inheriting the Tendo Dojo for so long I haven't really thought of anything else._ "

" _Is running a dojo still what you want to do?_ "

" _I'm not certain, but I think so._ "

" _I'd recommend going to college and majoring in Physical Education with a minor in Business or Finance. You'll need to get a Manticoran_ _High School Equivalency first, but I know how to do that. I did mine in about a year. You might be faster since you paid more attention at Furinkan than I did._ "

" _Okay. That sounds like a good place to start. If I do that, then eventually you can come teach at my dojo, Auntie._ "

Nodoka smiled. " _That would be nice._ "

Ran said, " _There's also some basic information on the Star Empire and its planets on your datapads. You can settle anywhere, but I recommend Sphinx or Manticore. I have homes on both planets, but I prefer Sphinx. The gravity is heavier and its weather tends to be more extreme, but it's wilder and freer. I have a lot of good memories there, so I tend to live there during my downtime from the Navy unless I need to be on Manticore for the House of Lords or something else. Plus, Ama-chan likes it better. But, you don't have to decide yet, or even soon._ "


	8. Chapter 8: Settling In (Again)

Ran stood with Amaterasu before Hamish and Thomas in a conference room at Admiralty House in Landing on Manticore. Her mother and Akane were waiting in an adjoining room. She had just finished describing the events that had occurred since the two had appeared on the bridge of her ship.

"What are the odds that we'll see more people from your past?" asked Hamish.

"According to what Akane said, Sir, I'd say the odds are low. My other fiancées seemed relieved to be free of the obligation and my old rivals are glad that I'm gone. It's possible that with Akane gone from Nerima that might change, but I doubt it. I can't really put a meaningful number to it since the odds skew to the improbable in Nerima."

"If any of them _do_ appear, are they likely to cause problems?" asked Thomas.

"Yes, any of the old crew would be troublesome, but the only ones that would be hard to contain would be the Amazons and Ryouga. They know a technique called the Breaking Point which allows them to shatter hard materials. I'm not sure how if it would work on battle steel, but based on how the theory behind the technique, I wouldn't count on it not working."

"I know you said it would be hard to quantify, but I want you to give the best estimate you can of one of the Nerimans showing up," said Hamish.

Ran sighed. "Sir, call it five percent that the Amazons show up, probably all three of them if any do. Fifteen percent chance of Ryouga showing up. One percent chance that one or more of the three Kunos show up. Three percent chance that Ukyo shows up, probably in one of the Ryouga scenarios."

Thomas and Hamish exchanged glances and then Hamish nodded. Thomas said, "Ran, Lucien has told us that he had planned for your next assignment to be shore-based anyway. I'm going to have him move it up, since you were due for a rotation when you came back from Silesia anyway. You'll be receiving a promotion to Captain (J. G.) and reporting to _HMSS Vulcan_ to fill a Tactics Slot in R &D."

Ran glanced at her white beret threaded through her epaulet and sighed internally. She would have to get her standard black one out of storage. She would miss commanding a ship.

Hamish grinned at her. "Don't worry too much, Ran. The Admiralty is pleased with how you handled the _Kusanagi_. I'm sure Lucien will have another ship for you before you know it."

She grinned ruefully. "That obvious, Sir?"

"I remember when I had my first rotation away from command once I got it and how disappointed I was. Even the promotion to Flag was disappointing in its own way."

* * *

A couple days after his debriefing, Ranma took Nodoka and Akane to Sphinx. Ranma brought up prolong to Akane.

" _So, prolong is why you look so young even though you've been here for about 30 years?_ " Akane asked. " _How old did you say you are? 46? That blows my mind._ "

" _Forty-eight._ " He laughed. " _I think I'm older than you, Mother._ "

Nodoka looked faint. " _Yes, by almost ten years._ "

Ranma frowned. " _Unfortunately, prolong doesn't work for those over about 25. But I can get you the treatment, Akane. With it you can expect to live to be about 300 without looking like the Cologne or Happosai._ "

" _How does that work?_ " asked Akane.

" _It works by stretching the amount of time you spend in your prime. Those that received the first First-Generation treatments on Beowulf are just now starting to die at 200 plus years old. They've been having about the same number of years in declining health that you would expect a non-prolong recipient to have, just with many 'good' years prior to that._ "

" _Have you started to see any social problems with people living that long?_ " asked Nodoka.

" _Some of the worlds closer to Earth have. Manticore has been expanding or at war since about the time that the last of those without Prolong started to die, so we are just barely starting to see them here. The biggest change is that many people are putting off having kids for much longer than they used to. We might have seen some stagnation if it weren't for the wars and the changes to Parliament. Until about 20 years ago the House of Lords was the dominant house in Parliament. To some extent it still is, but more of the leadership aspects are being transferred to the House of Commons. There are rumors that Baron Grantville will step down from being Prime Minister in favor of Alex Jordan, the Centrist Party's leader in the Commons within the next couple of years._

" _In the Navy promotions to above Captain have been really sparse lately. Lower ranks are still expanding at the moment due to having to field lots of small ships to cover the Star Empire's expansion and raids from pirates and the remnants of the Mesan Alignment and the Solarian League. If it weren't for recent legislation, I could expect to see only one or two promotions in the next 50 years. They just capped the number of years of service at 80 unless special circumstances like a declared war happen._ "

" _You make it sound like the wars were a good thing,_ " accused Akane.

Ranma glared at Akane. " _Not at all. I would gladly trade my Navy career to have Sarah and my adopted Mom back and I would gladly deal with the social problems of prolong rather than have had to make decisions that killed thousands of people._ "

Ranma pulled out a datapad. " _I'm sending you a link so that you can find out more information on prolong. I don't feel like talking any more._ "

" _Ranma, I. . ._ " Akane began.

" _I know you didn't mean it like that, Akane, but it was still a mood killer. I'll talk to the two of you later._ "

* * *

A few weeks later, Ranma walked into his study on Sphinx. His mother was sitting at a table reading.

" _What are you reading, Mother?_ " he asked.

" _I'm reading about the changes to kendo rules and related sports in the last couple millennia,_ " she said. " _Of course, not many practice kendo here, but there are quite a few fencing clubs and leagues. It seems that your Star Kingdom intentionally incorporated English 'noble' traditions. Your contacts have gotten me a few prospects for dojos or salons that might want to offer kendo._ "

" _Any big changes?_ " he asked.

" _Not really,_ " she answered. " _Once these types of things get formalized, they tend not to change. That doesn't stop new varieties from springing up, but the old ones rarely disappear completely._ "

" _Are you going to do 20_ _th_ _Century kendo, or one of the new varieties? There really isn't any Japanese culture left on Old Earth, but there are a handful of planets that were settled based on some aspect of it._ "

" _Since there aren't any kendo leagues or clubs on Sphinx or Manticore, I thought I'd go with what I know,_ " Nodoka said.

" _It's kind of surprising that there aren't, because there are quite a number of Japanese or Chinese-based hand-to-hand martial arts clubs and leagues,_ " Ranma said.

" _Well, if you extrapolate from our time, movies by people like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan popularized Kung Fu and Karate and similar martial arts in the Western mind, but sword-fighting in Western movies was almost always based on European styles. Since Manticore has a very Western culture. . . It's not too surprising._ "

" _I guess,_ " Ranma said. " _I haven't paid much attention to cultural trends. Too many other things to do. Do you think you'll have any problems getting interest?_ "

" _It should be fine,_ " she said. " _In a city the size of Yamato Crossing, there will be enough people willing to try new things. We might not get enough interest to form a club, but I should get enough students to keep busy._ "

* * *

A few weeks after later, Ranma saw Akane studying in his study.

" _Hi, Akane. What are you reading?_ " he asked.

"Hi, Ranma," she answered in English. "I'm studying English. Do you mind if I practice with you?" Her grammar was pretty good, but her accent was strong.

"I would be happy to help you. I learned the best by talking to Mom and watching TV."

"The online teacher is much better than Miss Hinako," she said.

Ranma laughed. "From what I remember, that is certainly true. Miss Hinako for all her talk of discipline was very easily distracted. So, how is school going?"

"I've passed the Math course, since that hasn't really changed. I'm doing English now, because it's necessary for the others. I plan on doing Science next, because I don't think basic science has changed."

"That's mostly true," said Ranma. "If I remember right there are some sections on wormholes and some of the physics that makes faster-than-light travel possible as well as a few of the other discoveries since spaceflight became possible."

"After that, I thought I'd take Technology since it sounds interesting, then History because it will be the hardest, and lastly Government, because it shouldn't be that hard but I expect it to be boring."

"I actually found History to be interesting in that I got to find out what I missed," he responded.

"That's true, but I hope I don't have to memories lots of dates."

"There is some of that, but the grading is based more on knowing what happened as opposed to when. As for Government, you're right. Manticore's government is very similar to what Japan's was. The main difference is that part of Parliament is hereditary and the Diet was made entirely out of elected officials. Also our Queen has more influence than the Emperor did."

"That's what I thought," said Akane. "But what about the Old Star Kingdom versus the Star Empire?"

"The Old Star Kingdom and the Talbott Quadrant both send members to the unicameral Imperial Parliament. Eventually, Manticoran Silesia is supposed to as well, but I don't see that happening soon. The Imperial Parliament determines foreign policy and defense and has some overarching internal mandates, but most of the domestic policy for the Old Star Kingdom is determined by the Manticoran parliament. The Talbott Quadrant has a Parliament too, but they chose to have a Senate instead of a House of Lords. Talbottian Senators are life-time appointments based on personal achievement with quotas from each star system in the Quadrant. Baron Grantville is currently the Prime Minister of both the Old Star Kingdom and the Empire, but it's expected to diverge eventually, if not soon."

"How can he be in both Parliaments?" asked Akane.

"Technically, he's only a member of the House of Lords in the Old Star Kingdom, but you don't have to be a member of Parliament to be the Prime Minister, it's just custom. The Baron is popular, however, in both the Quadrant and here, and the Queen indicated that, for now, it would be preferable to have continuity. The Imperial Parliament agreed and elected him."

Akane laughed. "I'm surprised you know so much."

"I am a member of the Lords, Akane," Ranma replied. "I take my responsibilities seriously. I haven't been able to attend regularly due to being assigned to ships most of the time, but I do keep up with how my proxy votes and discuss policy with him."

Akane shook her head. "You don't look much older than you did when Kuno sent you away. I keep forgetting how much older and more mature you really are." She smiled. "If you were this insightful in Nerima, then Nabiki would have snatched you up in a heartbeat."

Ranma shuddered. "I played the dumb jock for a reason."

Akane arched an eyebrow.

Ranma smirked. "Don't get me wrong. I was pretty ignorant and easily bored with intellectual pursuits, but I acted dumb a lot of the time to get people to ignore me or underestimate me—especially Pop. He would harp on me if I paid too much interest to anything not related to Martial Arts. . . or you."

She blushed which caused him to smirk. Ranma noticed her fist start to clench and smoothed his facial features.

"I've kept you from your studies long enough," he said. "Good luck with them."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The setup of the Imperial Parliament (other than the initial percentage of it coming from the Old Star Kingdom) and whether it replaces the Parliament of the Old Star Kingdom has not been revealed yet by Weber, so I put in a federal system with pretty strict separation of powers between the local and the Imperial governments like the division between state and federal powers was in the United States originally (pre-Civil War). It also hasn't been revealed whether Talbott will get a House of Lords. I decided to use a Senate there instead based loosely on what Canada has.


	9. Chapter 9: Questions and Answers

**Author's Note:** (added) There has been a question about the name of Ran's posting. Sphinx's space station was rebuilt and the name was reused since the RMN likes to honor legacy names by reusing them.

* * *

On his next day off from his new job on the _HMSS Vulcan_ Ranma headed downstairs for breakfast before going to the dojo for a workout. He heard voices and stopped for a second.

" _What do you think of the 'new' Ranma, Akane_ ," he heard his mother ask in Japanese.

" _I don't know,"_ Akane replied. " _In most ways he_ is _a new person._ "

Ranma felt guilty about unintentionally eavesdropping, but could not bring himself to stop.

" _In some ways he's Ranma without most of his faults_ ," Akane continued. " _but a 'mature' Ranma isn't really the Ranma I used to know. If I look at it objectively, the 'new' Ranma is my perfect man, but I miss the old Ranma—ego, insults, and all._ "

" _All I have are your stories, since I never met my son before coming here_ ," said Nadoka sadly.

" _Ranma was one of the most frustrating people alive_ ," Akane said. " _He was routinely insulting on purpose. He was insulting even when he didn't try. Despite being a girl almost half the time, he had a low opinion of the female gender that he exempted himself from since he was really a boy. He had the biggest swelled head you could imagine. Despite that, he was one of the kindest people I know. He would sacrifice for his friends. He routinely forgave people who tried to hurt or kill him. Most of the time when he smiled it was the most infuriating smirk imaginable, but when he was genuinely happy, his smile turned my insides to butter._ "

She paused before continuing. " _The 'new' Ranma is like Ranma all smoothed out. He isn't insulting, but I also don't see the raw kindness either. I see hints of the old Ranma, but it's mostly hidden behind his polite manner. To be honest, I kind of miss the insults we used to throw around._ "

" _Are you sure, I've seen you almost blow up at him a couple of times before he noticed and excused himself."_

" _Well, I kind of miss it and kind of don't. In small amounts it was playful, but Ranma always overdid it."_

" _I'm sure you'll work something out. You have to remember that Ranma has been grown up for a long time_ ," said his mother. " _I'm sure that as you get to know the 'new' him better, you'll see the boy you grew to care about._ "

Ranma decided to head out the dojo a different way and just get something from the snack bar he kept out there. He was not sure what to make of the conversation he had overheard. He remembered caring for Akane quite a lot, but that was before he had known what love was. It was not until his adopted mother and then Sarah had entered his life that he had known.

At this point in his life, Ranma was mainly a career professional with the RMN. He attended the Lords pretty much only when Hamish or Willie asked him to. He did go out periodically, but he would not say he was close to any of his "clubbing" buddies. He had some professional acquaintances he would trust "her" life to, but he always kept them at arm's length due to his embarrassing condition. He did not really have any close friends other than Honor's extended family and he only saw them a few times a year, at best.

Ranma decided to stop intentionally keeping his distance from Akane. If something happened, so be it. If nothing happened, that was fine too. He thought he did owe her at least the chance though.

* * *

Ran was practicing her martial arts. She was not nearly as obsessed with them as when she was young, but she still enjoyed them immensely.

She noticed Akane entering the dojo with a pitcher of lemonade and two glasses on a tray. She ended the kata she was running through and began to do some cool down exercises.

"This is the time you normally stop," said Akane when Ran approached. "I figured you might like some lemonade."

"Thanks, Akane," she said. "How's school going?"

"Pretty well. I think I'll be done in another three months."

"That's great," Ran said. "You're moving through it faster than I did."

"Well," said Akane, "this is my second time through High School."

Ran laughed. "Plus you actually have decent study habits. I didn't get any until I attended college. The teachers from Furinkan would be shocked at how well I did at the Naval Academy."

Akane laughed too. "Maybe not. Being a sailor is about fighting, right? Saotome Ranma can learn anything as long as it's a martial art, right?"

Ran smiled. "Mostly it is about fighting, but not in the same way."

The two sipped their lemonade companionably.

"Ran?" Akane said. "I was wondering why you act differently when you're a woman."

"Do I?" Ran said. "I hadn't noticed. I'm still the same person."

"I'm not saying you aren't," Akane said. "You just seem a lot more formal and precise when you're a woman."

"Huh," Ran said. "It's not on purpose. I guess subconsciously I see my female form as part of my RMN uniform. While I sometimes go out as a woman for fun, I usually do so as a man, just because I have to be a woman for my career so much. I tend to spend as much of my time off as a man as I can without triggering the water magnet part of my curse, since I have to go months at a time as a woman while deployed."

Akane smirked. "So you've spent months at a time as a woman then?"

Ran rolled her eyes. "I know what you're hinting about. Every woman that knows about my curse asks sooner or later." She smirked. "Most of the men who know avoid the subject like the plague. But to answer your unasked questions, yes I menstruate. Yes, I hate it, but I've gotten used to it by now. Yes, my doctor says I can get pregnant assuming the deactivation of my curse wouldn't cause me to miscarry. No, I don't know if my curse would lock if I got pregnant. No, I have no real desire to try and find out."

Akane laughed, then looked curious. "Are you saying you're not curious about being a mother?"

Ran got serious. "Of course, I'm curious about being a mother, but that's all it is: idle curiosity. I have no desire to be with a man like that. At this point I also wouldn't want to interrupt my career to be pregnant. I suppose I could 'tube' a baby into an artificial womb like my cousin and her co-wife, but that wouldn't be substantially different than being a father. Most importantly, I haven't met anyone I wanted to start a family with since Sarah died."

Akane smiled slyly. She put her hand on Ran's lower abdomen. "Are you sure you don't want a baby to grow in here?"

Ran scowled and knocked Akane's hand away. "I think I liked it better when you called me a pervert and bashed me."

Akane laughed.

"I'm not trying to say that I don't get baby hungry occasionally when my hormones act up, but mentally I just don't see myself doing it."

"Okay, I'll stop teasing you."

"Oh, it's fine," the redhead said. "This is nothing. Do you want to know how is the worst tease about this among my friends?" she asked conspiratorially.

"Who?" Akane asked curiously.

"The Empress."

"Really?"

They shared a laugh.

"I'm not saying I'll never change my mind, although I doubt it," said Ran, "but for now, this is how I feel."

"How about being a father?" asked Akane. Ran could see that there was something in her eyes—perhaps nervousness?

"I'm 48, Akane," she said. "Of course I've thought about it. If we were still in our birth time, I'd be old enough to be a grandpa." She laughed. "Although nowadays, I'm still considered on the young side to be a parent. However, like I told you before, I'm not one to be a father just to be a father. If I started a family, I'd want it to be with someone I loved. There isn't anyone I'd consider starting a family with, currently."

Akane had a weird look in her eyes, like she was half satisfied, half irritated. She shook her head. "It was nice to talk to you Ran. I'll see you later."

Akane left the dojo. Even after all this time as one, Ran still did not understand women as well as she might have liked.

* * *

Two months later, Ranma invited Honor and her family to a dinner with his mother and Akane. He would have done so earlier, but he wanted his mother to be able to understand English enough to participate.

"Good Evening, Your Grace," Ranma's mother said to Honor.

"Please call me Honor, Nodoka," said Honor. "Family doesn't stand on ceremony."

"As you wish," said Nodoka.

"It's nice to see you ladies again," said Hamish.

"That's right," said Akane. "We met you during our initial interview."

"Ranma showed me some of your holo-movies, Emily," said Akane to the woman in the life-support chair. "I liked them a lot."

"Thank you. I enjoyed doing them," said Emily. "Obviously, my acting days are over, but I still occasionally dabble as a producer."

The six of them sat down to dinner.

"I knew Ranma as the obnoxious teenager and now I've seen him as a distinguished gentleman," Akane said. "I was wondering how he got from one to the other."

"Hey!" exclaimed Ranma while everyone else laughed.

"Lots of patience on Aunt Claire's part," Honor said. "When we were first introduced, he was still quite rough. When he learned that I dabble in a martial art called _coupe de vitesse_ , he challenged me to a spar. During the spar, I think he managed to call me: 'tomboy,' 'too tall,' 'gorilla arms,' and 'thick as a brick.'"

"If he called you 'uncute,' I think he was flirting with you," said Akane.

"Akane," exclaimed Ranma, "I wouldn't flirt with my _married_ cousin.

"If you must know," he continued, "I was taught to use insults to distract my opponent. An angry opponent makes mistakes."

"Is that why you were always insulting me?" Akane asked.

"Not really. That was why I insulted Ryouga and the others. With you it was to keep from getting married too young and to get you back for calling me a pervert due to my _condition_ , which I couldn't help."

"I admit that I called you a pervert partly to keep the fathers off my back too. The other reason was that most of the boys I knew were perverts."

"So it wasn't because of my condition?" he asked.

"Well, I admit it made me uncomfortable. However, the fact that you had no modesty as a girl made that even worse."

"Heh," laughed Honor, "I talked to the Rangers that 'found' Ranma after he'd spent a year in the wild after first arriving on Sphinx. They said the rags she was wearing left nothing to the imagination. They were surprised that a wild child would be so 'healthy' up top."

"I'm just naturally gifted," said Ranma in a surprisingly good falsetto as he stuck out his male chest in a feminine manner.

"I still get weirded out when you act like Ran as Ranma," said Hamish.

"I think that's why he does it, dear," said Emily as they all chuckled.

"It took Mom a while to convince me it was even necessary to act like a girl when I was female," said Ranma. "She let me be a tomboy though, for which I was grateful. The one saving grace when I learned English for real was that I didn't have to learn to speak as both a boy and a girl, since the language isn't different for men and women like Japanese is. When I was young, I always sounded like an idiot when I was a girl because I refused to speak like one."

"There was also the fact that you would take off your shirt to ring it out when you got wet, which was often," said Akane.

"The only time I did that in front of Mom, she slapped me," Ranma admitted. "And like all Harrington's she was very strong. It was like getting hit by you, Akane."

Ranma's birth mother was following the stories with a mixture of fascination and sadness. "It's all right, Mother," he said to her. "I know it wasn't your fault you weren't there to teach me any better."

"I wish I could've met your adopted mother, Ranma," she said. "She sounds like a formidable woman."

"She was, but she was also kind and she had a wicked sense of humor," said Ranma.

Akane and Honor spent most of the rest of the dinner taking turns trying to embarrass Ranma. He roped Emily into telling some of Honor's embarrassing stories that she'd gotten second hand from Aunt Allison. He then told about Akane's attempts to swim and the whiskers she grew due to the "Super Soba." Everyone took it good naturedly, for the most part.


	10. Chapter 10: Giving it a Try

It was a Friday evening and Ran had gotten in late from the _Vulcan_. She needed to relax a little before bed, so she was curled up in a large armchair in her study reading. She had a blanket draped over her and a fire was burning in her gas-powered fireplace, since it was late and the central heater had turned off for the day. Amaterasu was laying on a rug by the fire, dozing.

She hadn't gotten very far into her book when the door opened and Akane came in.

"You just get home?" asked the dark-haired woman.

"Not too long ago," Ran answered. "I just need to relax a little before bed."

"I saw the light on and wondered if it was you," Akane said. "What are you reading?"

"It's a novel based on pre-space-flight Earth," Ran replied. "This one is actually set near the time period of our birth, although it's in America rather than Japan. I have a weakness for these because I get a kick out of everything they get wrong."

"Really?" Akane replied, interested. "What kind of things?"

"The main character is a teenager who from Texas who rides a horse everywhere and alternates hacking into government computers and getting into gun battles with the FBI."

"Horses and computers both, huh?" she asked.

"To someone from this era, there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between 1900 CE and 2000 CE. They don't really appreciate the society-altering technological changes that happened over that hundred years. There have been some since then, such as those that enabled and enhanced space travel or Prolong, but they didn't come quite so out of the blue."

"I would have thought you would read martial arts stories or manga," Akane commented.

"Can't get much of that here," Ran said. "At least not the same kind we had in Japan. Besides, my tastes have broadened over the last 30 years."

Akane nodded and then said, "You look very feminine curled up on that big chair."

Ran rolled her eyes and responded, "I _am_ currently a woman."

"I thought you liked to spend your time off work as a man?" Akane questioned.

"I do spend a lot of my free time away from work as a man, because I spend almost all my time on duty as a woman. Some things just feel more comfortable as a woman though."

"Do you still only eat ice cream as a woman?" Akane asked with a smirk.

"It depends on the circumstances," Ran answered, "but if I'm by myself or with family I usually do. Not because I think it's 'unmanly' to eat ice cream, but because it tastes better and because it's one of the ways I socialize with my girl cousins."

"Ice cream tastes better as a woman?" Akane asked dubiously.

"For me it does," Ran answered. "I don't know about anyone else."

"I think you're pretty unique in that regard, Ran," Akane said.

Ran shrugged.

"So why read as a woman?" Akane asked.

"I read a lot on ship, when I'm off-duty," she responded, "but it's not so much that as that sitting next to a warm fire, all curled up feels nicer as a woman. Snuggling up alone is not nearly as comfortable as a man."

Akane arched an eyebrow. "And with someone else?"

Ran blushed. "I've never really done any snuggling with someone else as a woman, unless you count Ama-chan. Maybe a few times with Sarah. . ." she rolled her eyes at Akane's smirk before continuing, "with clothes on you hentai. I will admit that it is pretty nice to be a man and have a woman snuggled up to you."

"You ever dated a man?" Akane asked.

Ran shook her head. "Never been interested in trying. To be honest, I haven't dated since Sarah died."

"Why not?"

She chuckled ruefully. "The main disadvantage of my fake marriage. Anyone worth dating won't touch me because of it."

"You mean you've never found a woman that you would share your condition with?" Akane asked.

"Most of the women I meet more than casually are in the RMN. I wouldn't feel comfortable starting a relationship with someone above me or below me in the chain of command. Plus, it's against the Regs. Any sailor has the potential to be one or the other."

"Don't military people get married to each other?" Akane asked.

"It does happen," Ran admitted, "and when it does they get assigned to different chains of command, for the most part. Honor and Hamish don't count since he's retired. So even though he's her superior, it's as a civilian and so it's technically outside the Regs."

"So it's just an excuse," Akane taunted.

Ran sighed. "Maybe, but the military formality does put some distance between people. I can't see myself approaching one of my Navy friends and saying, 'I was born a man and can still change into one. Want to get to know my male half? As my own wife, I'm giving myself permission to see other people.'"

Akane giggled. "I can see your problem, but you are 48, is it? Shouldn't you have found a solution to this problem by now? You're an old maid."

Akane giggled again at Ran's grimace.

"I'm not old, maid or otherwise," growled Ran. "I'm still a young adult by today's standard."

"Fine, fine," agreed Akane with a smirk. She then looked at Ran curiously. "I wonder what your father would say if he saw you like this."

"I stopped caring what the Panda thought once I found out what a real family is like," Ran said irritatedly.

"Boy!" Akane said gruffly trying to imitate Ran's father. "You've gotten soft! Stop acting like a weak girl!"

"I used to really resent him," Ran said softly, "and what he robbed from me. It's mostly faded now. I guess letting go was my final piece of maturity." She shook her head. "I've come to the conclusion that he was more stupid than malicious. I've come to see that he wasn't all bad in that he did teach me the Art, but I still can't think warmly of him." She stared into the fire for a moment and then said, "I've had an exhausting day, so I'm turning in. I'll see you tomorrow, most likely."

Akane's grin slipped for a second, but she smiled and said, "Okay, Ran. Sleep well."

"You too."

* * *

Ranma's encounter with Akane the previous night didn't sit well with him. He had told her he was trying to relax, but she had kept digging at him. He did not mind being teased a little, but she seemed to do nothing but tease him. Because of that he was avoiding her this morning. Instead he sought out his mother. He found her in the back garden.

"Hey, Mother," he said.

"Hello, Ranma," she said. She had just become comfortable enough to talk to him in English. "I've been meaning to ask you why do you always call me Mother instead of Mom?"

"I guess it's because I always think of my adopted mom as 'Mom' and I call you 'Mother' to differentiate."

"I'm not trying to take away anything from what your adopted mother did for you, but it always sounds so cold when you call me 'Mother,'" Nodoka said.

"How about I use Japanese and call you 'Kaachan,'" Ranma said with a grin.

"Well, that's better, but isn't a little childish?" she said.

"That or because we're peers—especially when I'm Ran—through the magic of time travel," he said with a smirk. "If I remember correctly, young women called their girl friends '-chan.'"

"You may look like a young woman, despite your age, but I don't," his mother responded.

"Ah, Kaachan," he said, "you look very good for a woman in her forties without Prolong."

"It's nice of you to say so, Ranma," she said with a smile.

He smiled back and then got serious. "I actually came and found you to talk about Akane."

"Oh? What about her?" she asked. "Is there a problem? I thought you two were getting along well."

"We were getting along well," Ranma said, "but she's decided she needs to recreate the relationship we had as teenagers. I don't mind some teasing, but that's all she seems to do any more."

"She's not hitting you is she?" Nodoka asked, concerned. "She confessed to me that she used to do that."

"No," said Ranma. "She's not doing that or even insulting me directly. Either of those I could probably deal with a little better. She just keeps verbally jabbing me—especially about me being a girl at least half the time."

"I thought that being a girl doesn't bother you anymore," she said.

"It doesn't," Ranma responded. "I am still embarrassed about changing back and forth somewhat—or at least of anyone finding out about it. In many respects, being a girl full time would be better—although I would probably miss it if I lost either of my forms, now. That's not really it though, it's the fact that she keeps bothering me about it. It's the fact that she keeps trying to pick a fight with me about it."

Nodoka thought for a few moments and said, "I don't really have any advice for you except to talk to her about it."

Ranma sighed. "I already knew that. I was hoping for some insight on her from you. You've knew her for a year and a half before you came here, right? It'd been over 30 years since I knew her and she was more immature back then."

"That's right." His mother paused to think again. "I think she'd understand if you talked to her. She's told me that you two had a rough relationship do to your fathers and everyone else, but she really missed you when you were banished."

Ranma nodded. "She told me a little about what happened afterward."

"It's more than that, Ranma," said his mother. "Even discounting the hard time she had after, she genuinely missed you."

"I suppose I missed her too—at least at first. Once I had real friends, the dysfunctional friendships I had in Nerima faded into the background."

"Is that all you think of her? A dysfunctional friend?"

"No," Ranma replied. "Not any more. For the most part, our renewed friendship has been pleasant. It's just since she's decided to try and recreate something I don't miss that I've been having issues with her." He paused and then continued. "I have a confession, I heard the two of you talking a few months ago. I know I shouldn't eavesdrop, but it's instinctual to do so when someone is talking about you."

"Is this about Akane telling me you were 'too polite?'" Nodoka asked.

"Something like that," Ranma responded. "After that she started to tease me quite a bit more."

"What do you think about having a relationship with Akane?" she asked.

"I wasn't opposed to it," Ranma admitted. "I'm still not if she would ease up on me. To be honest, I'm not really sure how to go about a relationship after a nearly twenty-year drought."

"Oh, Ranma," his mother laughed. "I think most people don't have a clue about starting relationships. Even with my arranged marriage with your father, it was still challenging to develop one when we were shoved together."

"I don't think the Panda's relationships are a good measuring stick, Kaachan."

She laughed. "I suppose not. Still, we managed something."

He smirked at her. "You're free to start your own relationship, Kaachan. Your husband is long dead."

She sighed. "I know, I've thought about it idly at times, but who would start a relationship with someone who they would outlive by centuries?"

"It's true that most people have Prolong, but there are still some immigrants that don't. I know a few nice Graysons and others that were just slightly too old when it was made available to them."

"I'll think about it," she said with a rueful chuckle. "Introduce some to me socially—not as a blind date! —and I'll think about it."

* * *

That evening, Ranma caught Akane in the study.

"Hey, Akane," he said to her.

"Hi, Ranma," she said with a smile. "I wanted to apologize about last night."

"Oh?" he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," she said. "You said you wanted to relax and I kept pestering you to the point that you had to use the Saotome Secret Technique."

Ranma snorted. "You know that was one of the Panda's better ideas. Of course, he gave it an overblown name, but it's sometimes a good idea."

Akane smiled. "So this is me, apologizing for ruining your relaxation."

He returned her smile and said, "Apology accepted."

He paused and then sighed and asked. "Akane, are you trying to recreate the relationship we had as teenagers?"

Her expression went blank. "Well, no. We're both older and I don't want to go back to the insults or me hitting you."

"I've noticed that," Ranma said carefully. "I've just noticed that you tease me nonstop. It's like you're continually trying to get into a verbal fight with me."

Akane looked at him stone-faced. "You must think I'm silly or a masochist."

"No I don't," he replied. "I know that nostalgia hits some people funny. To be honest, I don't mind the teasing in moderate amounts, but I don't want it to be the whole basis of our relationship."

"Do we have a relationship?" she asked.

"Well, yes," he said. "We're friends and you're my houseguest."

She snorted. "You know that's not what I meant."

He smirked. "I'm not opposed to one, but I'm a bit different than when I was 16 and trying to replicate what we had then may not work for me. I like to think I'm a bit more mature. Aside from that, the biggest challenge will be my career. I'll be gone for months at a time—usually 6 to 12 months with only about a month free in between. Most of my postings will not give me my weekends free, like my current one."

"So what do you want in a relationship?" Akane asked.

Ranma laughed. "I don't know exactly. I want someone to joke around with, someone to be serious with, someone to be active with, someone to relax with. You know, stuff like that. What do you want?"

Akane smiled wryly. "About the same."

Ranma said, "I'm willing to give it try, if you moderate your teasing."

Akane smiled more genuinely. "I'd like that."

Ranma said, "Are you sure you want to be known as the second wife of a bigamist—even if it's not true?"

"No, not completely. That's why we're 'giving it a try,' right?"

"Right."


	11. Chapter 11: Rewards and Surprises

Ranma took Akane to Cosmo's in Landing on Manticore to celebrate her achieving her High School equivalency. Amaterasu rode on his shoulders as usual. They had been dating about a month. Akane had protested taking a trip to Manticore just to celebrate her passing High School again, but Ranma had told her he needed to come to Manticore anyway and that Cosmo's was the best in the Star Empire.

It was one of the few places that could prepare pre-Diaspora Japanese food. They had a recipe file that contained every type of food in the known universe and their chefs had the skill to prepare everything in the file. It was not exactly like Kasumi used to make it, but it was close, especially considering the fact that they had to make substitutions for ingredients not found on Manticore.

Ranma's mother was a talented cook, but did not know what substitutions to make. She ended up mostly cooking standard Manticoran meals rather than deal with meals that were not up to her usual standards due to missing ingredients.

Akane had actually become a decent, if methodical, cook. Her food was edible nowadays, but only because she reined in her impulses to experiment. She did not cook very often because she now found it boring, but she did make sure to prove to Ranma that she could.

Ranma and Akane had drawn stares as they had walked into the restaurant. Ranma could tell that people were talking about them. He could tell that it was making Akane agitated.

"Does it bother you?" he asked her. "The gossip?"

She nodded. "Doesn't it bother you?"

"It does," he admitted, "but I'm used to it now."

"Why do they care?" she asked. "I thought you were more or less a social recluse?"

"I am, sort of" he said. "I don't really isolate myself and I make periodic public appearances, but the fact that I don't have any real close friends other than my cousins and their families makes me an enigma. Add to that the fact that I'm close to Honor and am a Count in my own right and it makes me a paparazzi target. I'm also away on Navy business quite frequently which limits my public appearances. I also split a lot of my duties with Ran Marie, so we aren't seen together in public much, which creates more gossip."

"What do you do about it?" she asked. "The gossip and the paparazzi?"

"I mostly ignore it," he said. "At first, a few enterprising fools tried to grab me to stop me from ignoring them, but the Star Kingdom has pretty relaxed rules on what you can do in 'self-defense.' If they touch me, it counts as assault and I can defend myself." He smirked. "I keep the lawyer that Honor uses on retainer to handle it when it gets too far out of hand."

"What is your lawyer going to say about tonight's gossip?" Akane asked.

"Nothing substantial," he replied. "Just that you're a childhood friend of Ran Marie and mine that we recently got reacquainted with."

When the waiter came, Ranma declined a menu and asked for two shrimp okonomiyaki. He got some fish and celery for Ama-chan. Akane ordered some miso soup and some teriyaki tuna.

"I've ordered miso here before," Ranma commented. "It doesn't taste exactly the same because they don't have time to ferment the soybeans and they don't have kouji, but they do a decent imitation."

"They don't mind you ordering off-menu?" Akane asked.

"The chefs look at it as a challenge," Ranma said. "It's also understood that you'll pay through the nose for anything you order not on the menu."

Akane laughed and then sobered. "You don't need to do this just so I can have some Japanese food again," she said.

He smiled at her. "It's alright. I enjoy coming here once and a while. I _am_ pretty wealthy. I don't typically spend a lot of money, so this is a good treat every once in a while."

"Are their okonomiyaki as good as Uchan's?" Akane asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "In fact, I haven't had one in years and being with you made me nostalgic for the old days."

"Do you miss her?" Akane asked. Ranma could tell she was feeling a tiny bit insecure.

"A little bit," Ranma admitted, "but not really the Ukyo of our High School years. Even back then I was mostly just trying to reconnect with my old buddy. It made me sad that the Ukyo that replaced 'him' treated me like a prize more than a friend."

"And you liked her okonomiyaki," Akane added.

Amaterasu bleaked in amusement.

"And I liked her okonomiyaki," Ranma admitted. "I had a bottomless stomach that never gave me a reprieve." He reached up and rubbed the treecat's ears.

They talked some more as they ate. When they left Ranma held out his hand and looked in Akane's eyes. He could see that she acknowledged that this was a test. He smiled as she took his hand. They walked out of the restaurant hand-in-hand. Akane had a very slight blush on her cheeks due to the small public display of affection.

The gossips gossiped.

* * *

"Why did you hold my hand in public?" Akane asked after they settled into the aircar.

"I wanted to see if you could handle being in a public relationship with me," Ranma admitted. "When we were young, we both denied any sort of relationship out of self-defense. In some ways it will be worse now due to my position and my adopted family. There won't be any pressure like with our fathers, but the external pressure will be bad because I'm a Harrington."

"I wondered if it was something like that," Akane said.

"You okay with it?" he asked.

"I don't like the gossip, but I'll deal," she said.

"I feel the same," Ranma said.

"What now?" Akane asked.

"We'll head back to my Landing house to get changed and then I have a surprise for you," he said.

* * *

They were back in the aircar, but Ran Marie was a she.

"I didn't think you would change _that way_ ," Akane said.

"We've been invited to a girl's night in at Mount Royal Palace," Ran said with a smirk.

"What!?" Akane shrieked.

"Elizabeth wants to meet you," Ran said.

"Elizabeth? The Empress?" Akane asked, almost hyperventilating.

"Don't worry, Akane," Ran said. "I think you'll like her."

"You're that close with the Empress?" Akane asked.

"I'm not in her 'inner circle,' no," Ran said, "but Honor is. I _am_ on a first name basis with her and she likes me. Although to be honest, I think she invites me to these things because she likes my stories."

Akane giggled. "Does she believe them?"

"I'm not sure if she believes them a hundred percent," Ran admitted, "but she's seen me do some 'super human' feats, so she believes that part of it. What I think she doesn't quite get is how lacking in common sense and decency all of my acquaintances from Nerima were."

Akane giggled, but then sobered up. "She doesn't think badly of me, does she?"

Ran giggled. "Don't worry, she understands that we were young and that the misunderstandings were as much my fault as yours. You'll be fine as long as you don't try and bash me with a table."

Akane rolled her eyes. "You're never going to let me live that down are you?"

"Nope," Ran said cheerfully.

"Even if you're on a first name basis with her, I'm not," Akane complained. "What do I call her?"

"Call her 'Your Majesty' until she tells you otherwise and then call her what she tells you," Ran said. "Knowing her, she won't want you to 'Your Majesty' her

"Is she really that laid back?" Akane asked.

"No," Ran replied. "She just doesn't care for formality in informal situations."

* * *

Ran could tell that Akane was getting overwhelmed as she was introduced to the Empress, her cousin Mike Henke, a countess, her daughter Joanna, her daughter-in-law Rivka, her adopted niece Ruth, and Ruth's friend Berry, the Queen of Torch. Honor and Emily who Akane already knew, were also there as well as Nimitz and the Empress's treecat, Ariel.

She smiled encouragingly at her.

"You'll have to excuse my friend for being overwhelmed," Ran explained. "The Emperor of Japan was considered divine until he was forced to renounce it in order to end a war less than 30 years before we were born. He was still held in high regard and I'm sure there were many that didn't acknowledge the renouncement."

"You'll be happy to know that the Kings and Queens of Manticore have never made that claim, Akane," the Empress said. "And as the first Empress, I certainly never have, so please don't place me on that kind of pedestal."

"Same here," said Queen Berry.

"I'll try, Your Majesties," said Akane.

"Your Mousety," said Berry.

"What?" asked Akane, confused.

"The official honorific for the monarch of Torch is 'Your Mousety,'" explained Ran.

"Really?" asked Akane.

The whole room nodded.

"You'll have to excuse Berry's weird sense of humor," said Ruth, "but as the first Queen of Torch, she got to decide on a lot of the official titles and honors."

"I give the position the exact respect it deserves," Berry said pompously.

The room exploded into giggles.

"There will be no 'Your Majesties,' 'Your Graces,' or 'Your Mouseties' tonight," Elizabeth proclaimed. "Call us by our first names, Akane. It will get too stuffy and cumbersome otherwise."

"Alright, Elizabeth," Akane replied.

"Now," Elizabeth said, "one of the reasons we invited you here tonight is to fact check Ran's stories."

Ran put on her best innocent look and said tearfully, "You don't believe me?"

Akane snickered and said, "The look that bankrupted dozens of ice cream vendors."

"Ran talks like she played the macho act to the hilt," Mike said.

"That was true unless ice cream was involved," explained Akane.

The room burst into laughter. Ran relaxed. Akane was going to do alright.


	12. Chapter 12: A New Beginning

Ran and Akane were in Landing on Manticore again. This time, they were hitting some of the high-end boutiques. Akane was still a huge tomboy, and Ran herself was an even bigger one, but she had convinced Ran that they needed to get something nice.

She took Ran on outings like this at least once every few months in order to stop the rumor mill from saying that Akane was coming between Ran and Ranma. They had plans to eat at Cosmo's again to celebrate Akane finishing her first semester at the University of Yawata Crossing and were picking out outfits for that.

This particular boutique had "traditional ethnic" outfits. What they had labeled as kimonos were yukatas at best. They only had one layer and they did not sell obis, or any of the other accessories that made a kimono a kimono.

"What do you think your mom would do if we brought her here?" Akane said with a giggle.

"The only good thing," Ran said with a giggle, "is that she would be so upset that she would lapse into Japanese and the storekeeper wouldn't know what she was saying."

"You know," Akane said with a smile. "I like hearing you giggle. It shows you're comfortable with yourself."

"I stopped worrying about stuff like that decades ago," Ran said with a smile. "I will admit that this is more fun than I thought it would be," she admitted.

"Even for an unrepentant tomboy like you, it's fun to indulge in your inner girly girl every once in a while," Akane said.

"Look who's talking," Ran said. "You're almost as big a tomboy as me. For me, it's not so much the dresses, which I still don't like all that much, it's hanging out with you, being pals."

"Admit it, Ran," Akane said. "You like how you look in a nice dress. You've always been vain about your looks, even back in Nerima when you were trying to be macho."

Ran chuckled. "You got me. I don't usually care to dress up, but it does feel good to turn heads."

"It is kind of nice that my boyfriend can become my best girl friend when I need her," Akane said with a wink.

"Maybe we can go to Old Earth and see if Jusenkyo still exists," Ran teased. "It would be nice if you could return the favor. I could use a buddy to go to the sports bar with me."

Akane froze in thought. She shuddered and then relaxed. "I will admit to feeling a touch of curiosity, but I'm pretty certain I wouldn't want the permanent curse. I _might_ agree to an instant packet if they still make them."

"It's worth looking into," Ran said.

Akane's face still had a look that was half curiosity and half disgust.

"But Old Earth is still peeved at the Star Empire for the collapse of the Solarian League," Ran continued. "Manticorans are personas non grata there—especially Harringtons. I don't think they've forgiven Honor for being so much better than any of their admirals."

"Sour grapes, huh?" Akane said.

"Nothing like two millennia of being on top of the heap to make you think it's always going to be that way," she replied. "I will admit to wanting to go back and see what Japan and China are like now. From what I understand, it's pretty different. The world government made the whole planet pretty homogenous in an attempt to stop dissent."

"I admit to being curious too," Akane said, "but talking about how Japan is not Japan anymore without actually being able to go is kind of discouraging."

"Yeah," Ran said. "Maybe we can go in a couple of decades."

They turned back to the dresses.

"You know," Akane said. "Poking fun at poor recreations of our birth culture is almost as fun as trying things on."

Ran laughed. "I agree, but you can't really blame them. It has been two thousand years."

* * *

Ranma was relaxing in the dojo, running through a kata. They had returned to Sphinx the previous day. However, since it was the weekend, he was not due back at the _Vulcan_ until Monday.

His mother entered the dojo and knelt on the mats, watching him practice.

"Hi, Kaachan," he said.

"Hello, Ranma," she replied. "I love watching you practice the Art."

"After all this time, I still love practicing it," he said. "I sometimes wish I had more time for it, but I feel what I do for the Navy is important."

Ranma finished his set and then did a cool-down exercise. He joined his mother on the mats. They had gotten into the habit of sitting down and talking at least once each weekend, unless one of them had other obligations.

"How was your outing with Akane on Manticore?" she asked.

"It was fun," he said. "It was a girls' day out. She dragged me through some high-end boutiques in Landing. We tried some outfits on, but mostly we made fun of how inaccurate their recreations of traditional Japanese outfits were. You would have been horrified, Kaachan."

"I'm sure I would have," she said with a slight smile. "I understand why you have these girl outings, but I hope you don't let it distract you from pursuing a proper relationship."

Ranma rolled his eyes. This was a common topic for his mother. She did not drive the topic into the ground by any means, but she brought it up too often for his comfort. He finally decided to ask her why. He usually just changed the subject and she always let it go.

"Why are you so anxious for me to pursue a relationship with Akane," he asked. "This isn't about 'joining the schools,' is it?"

She laughed. "No, that died with your fathers. I just want grandbabies!" Her eyes lost focus as he could tell she was off in her own little world.

The thought of having kids made Ranma a little nervous. He wanted them, but he was pretty sure he was not ready. Despite technically being grandparent age, he was considered young to have kids by his generation's standards.

"I'm not ready for kids yet," he said bluntly.

"Ranma," she said. "You may be young because of prolong, but I may have as little as 30 years left in me. I'll try not to bug you about it too much, but I want you to at least consider having kids before I'm gone."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "You may not have prolong, Kaachan, but you're not going to die at 80. Modern medicine is pretty good."

She put her wrist against her forehead and wailed dramatically, "Oh, the shame of having a disrespectful son who treats me like an overbearing older sister."

Ranma snorted. "I recognize the intonation. Did Pop do that to you too?"

She grinned at him. "Only once."

He laughed. "You'll have to tell me the story when I need some cheering up. Why are you so set on grandbabies?"

She sighed. "I always wanted a big family, but that wasn't really socially acceptable back in Japan. Your father was also unwilling. He said having more would distract him from teaching you the Art. In my loneliness, after the two of you left on the training trip, I imagined that you would fill the void with lots of grandchildren once you returned."

"Wouldn't I have had the same issues with social pressures?" Ranma asked.

His mother blushed in embarrassment. "I may have talked myself into imagining that you would be manly enough to support several mistresses like an old-fashioned samurai."

Ranma snorted. "It sounds like something that creep Kunou wanted to do. I didn't think our family was prestigious enough to get away with that."

"We weren't, really," she admitted. "Both your father and I come from samurai stock, but it was diluted on both sides and we certainly weren't wealthy enough for that lifestyle. I started to realize that once I started talking to Akane and Kasumi once I found your father again." She giggled. "Akane was very forthright in telling me she would not have allowed that if you had married." She started to giggle again. "Although if she marries you now, she would technically be a second wife."

"I think the knowledge that she wouldn't really have to share me is the only thing stopping her from going berserk," Ranma said with a grin.

Ranma's thoughts wandered to the jewelry box hidden in his room. He had had it for a couple of weeks. He thought he knew what he wanted and he thought she would be agreeable, but he did not want to ruin things if they were not ready yet.

* * *

A month later Ranma was flying Akane in his aircar to one of his favorite spots on Sphinx. It was in one of the reserves set aside for treecats, but as a partner to a treecat and a retired Forestry Service ranger, he was allowed access.

Ama-chan was a bit of a celebrity among treecats, being one of two survivors of the Black Rock clan. In truth, Ranma himself was a minor treecat celebrity as well due to the T-year he spent alone with Ama-chan's clan while he was trapped in the Cat Fist. The fact that he had done this as a she also fascinated the treecats. The local clan was happy to let him come and visit whenever he wanted.

He had taken Akane out flying over the large picketwood forests before and they had gone on walks through the forest as well, but he had never taken her to this spot before. This particular spot was a u-shaped valley where an ancient glacier had carved steep walls. Since this was Sphinx, which did glaciers in a big way, the valley in and of itself was impressive. The valley floor and surrounding mountains were covered in trees. Large rock outcroppings popped up above the forests in the mountains surrounding the valley. He set down the aircar facing away from his target.

"This place is beautiful, Ranma" Akane said.

Amaterasu chirped agreement.

Ranma smiled and then guided her so that she could see what he had brought her here for. A gorgeous waterfall fell over the side of the valley wall. Off in the distance other waterfalls could be seen.

"Wow," she said. "I don't have words to describe this place."

"The only thing that saves this place from being a huge tourist trap is that it was discovered after it had already been given to the treecats," Ranma said. "Every few decades someone tries to get the local treecat clan to agree to trade it, but they've always refused. I can't blame them. Let's walk closer."

As they started to walk, she asked, "Does this place have a name?"

"Some of the prospective developers want to call it Yosemite after a place on Old Earth, but the treecats call it the Falling Waters Valley. The human who discovered the place registered it under the treecat name since he was shown it by his companion."

After a short walk they arrived at the stream that led from the foot of the waterfall. Amaterasu hopped down from Ranma's shoulder and started to look around. The waterfall rose up in front of them like a white billowing stream of cloth, framed by the trees that parted for the stream.

"If we get much closer we won't be able to talk well and we'll get wet," Ranma commented.

"Maybe I want to spend the morning with my best friend rather than my boyfriend," Akane said with a smirk.

"Maybe later, when it's warmer," Ranma said.

Akane turned back to the falls. "It's beautiful."

"Would you like one?" Ranma asked.

"A waterfall?" she said. "Most boyfriends don't buy their girlfriends waterfalls."

"Ah," Ranma said with a smirk, "I should tell you that this waterfall is called Bridal Veil Falls. It's actually a pretty common name for a waterfall. I think Sphinx has three with that name."

She turned back to the falls. "Yeah. It does look a little bit like a bridal veil. Do you have one of those waterfalls picked out? I know you're wealthy, Ranma, but that's a little ridiculous."

He brought out the ring box and opened it up. He got down on one knee. She sensed his movement and started to turn back to him.

"I should explain that I meant a real bridal veil," he said as she started at the box's contents. "Akane Tendou, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" she said as she wrapped him in a hug.

The End.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I have always had mixed feelings about this story. It's more a series of vignettes rather than a story with a plot. I like parts of it quite a bit, but struggled to find a plot. I first intended to make it a Ranma Sci Fi adventure, but then didn't feel up to inventing new plot for the Honorverse when David Weber would likely make it obsolete before too long. Divergences are fine, but I really couldn't see Ranma causing that big of a divergence in the Honorverse, at least right away. I decided the way to fix it was to bring in a limited cast from Nerima. I didn't think the Star Kingdom would let the wrecking crew run wild, so I settled for just a couple of them.

I elected to end it at this point, because I was still having problems coming up with plot and rather than keep dragging it on with only posts when I came up with something, I figured that Ranma and Akane getting engaged "for real" had good symmetry with the ending of the manga where the engagement is "suspended."

Any more stories directly related to this one are unlikely. There's a small possibility I may try a different Ranma/Honor cross, as I think it has potential.


End file.
